A company incorporated in the UAE, including in a free zone, has three months to register for Corporate Tax. Missing that deadline carries a fixed AED 10,000 penalty, with a waiver in one narrow case.
Corporate Tax registration is a step many founders skip because the licence arrives first and the tax office feels distant. The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) treats it as a separate obligation with its own deadline and its own penalty. This article sets out the deadline for a company incorporated now, the penalty for missing it, the one waiver the FTA has announced and the filings that follow.
The FTA's registration guide says each person is responsible for assessing whether it is in scope of Corporate Tax and what it must do. The guide lists juridical persons established in a UAE free zone among the persons in scope, and notes that a free zone company which meets the conditions of a Qualifying Free Zone Person may benefit from a 0% rate on its Qualifying Income. Being in scope for registration is therefore a separate question from paying 9%.
Under the FTA's decision on registration timelines, a resident juridical person, including a free zone person, incorporated, established or otherwise recognised in the UAE on or after the start of March 2024 must apply to register for Corporate Tax within three months from the date of incorporation, establishment or recognition.
So a company incorporated in a free zone has three months from the date on its incorporation or registration documents. Put the date in the diary on the day the licence is issued, not when the first invoice goes out.
The application is made on the FTA's EmaraTax portal. The guide says that a person who has not registered with the FTA before must create new login credentials the first time. Among the documents the guide lists for a resident juridical person:
The FTA says it aims to review an application and respond within 20 business days of receiving the completed application. Do not wait for that response to start your bookkeeping.
Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023 and its amendments, as published on the FTA website, list a penalty of AED 10,000 for a taxable person that fails to submit a tax registration application within the timeframe the FTA specifies. The FTA's own announcement of the registration timelines confirms that administrative penalties are imposed on taxable persons who miss their timeframe.
In 2025 the FTA announced that it had begun implementing a Cabinet Decision that exempts certain taxpayers from the penalty for late registration. To qualify, the taxable person must submit its tax return, or annual declaration, within seven months from the end of its first tax period, instead of nine months.
The FTA also said that this condition applies only to the first tax period. The waiver is not a reason to register late. It rewards an early first return, and it does not help in later periods. Check the current FTA position before you rely on it.
The registration guide lists three continuing obligations once you are registered.
A late return carries its own penalty in the same Cabinet Decision: AED 500 for each month or part of a month for the first twelve months, and AED 1,000 for each month or part of a month from the thirteenth month onwards. These are the amounts in the version of the decision published on the FTA site, so check the current schedule when you file.
DBC packages start from USD 1,948 (AED 7,150). See /pricing or /pricing/calculator. For your own tax position, particularly if you are also tax resident somewhere else, take advice in that country as well.
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