Meydan Free Zone Audit Requirement

The governing rulebook is the Meydan Free Zone Companies and Licensing Regulations 2022, published on the Meydan Free Zone rules and regulations page. Part 9, Accounts and Audit, is short and contains three duties.

• Clause 42.1: a company must prepare financial statements and submit audited financial statements to the Authority within 30 days of the Authority's request.
• Clause 42.2: the company must keep accounting records that show and explain its transactions, disclose its financial position with reasonable accuracy at any time, and let the directors confirm the accounts comply with the Regulations.
• Clause 44: an auditor is appointed or removed by ordinary resolution, and the change must be notified to the Authority.

Read together, these mean an audit is not optional in practice. A company cannot meet a 30-day request unless its accounts are already audited or an auditor can complete the work quickly. The Regulations do not contain a size exemption, a turnover threshold or a dormant-company carve-out in Part 9.

Clause 43 sets the financial year: the first may run up to 18 months from incorporation, and each later year runs 12 months. A change of year end is made by ordinary resolution and notified to the Authority.

The Regulations do not fix a number of days after year end for filing audited accounts. The only time limit in Part 9 is the 30 days that start when the Authority asks. That is different from zones with a calendar deadline, such as DMCC's six months.

Renewal is covered by Clause 13.1: a licensee must renew before the current term expires 'through meeting any requirements specified by the Authority'. The Regulations themselves do not list audited accounts as a renewal document, so the renewal checklist in force when you renew is what counts. Meydan's own financial audit report service page says that failing to submit audited financials when required may delay licence renewal. Ask Meydan in writing which year's audited statements, if any, your renewal needs.

In practice, plan for the earliest of three dates:

• your licence renewal date, if Meydan asks for audited accounts at renewal;
• 30 days after any request from the Authority;
• the corporate tax return deadline, nine months after the tax period ends, if you need audited statements for tax.

Part 9 does not define an approved auditor or refer to a Meydan auditor register. We found no approved auditor list published by Meydan Free Zone. Meydan's financial audit report service page states that the report must be prepared and signed by a licensed auditor registered with the UAE Ministry of Economy, and that only approved auditors can issue valid audit reports for regulatory purposes.

Under Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2023, the auditing profession is regulated at federal level, so check that the firm and the signing partner appear on the Ministry of Economy register on the day you sign the engagement letter. Some firms describe themselves as 'Meydan approved'; treat that as marketing unless Meydan confirms it.

When you appoint, remove or change the auditor, Clause 17.1 requires notice to the Authority on the prescribed form within 15 business days of the event, and Clause 44.2 links the auditor change to that notice. Missing it is a breach of the Regulations in its own right. Our approved auditors by free zone page compares how other authorities handle lists.

Meydan does not publish a separate audit submission procedure in the Regulations. Submit through the Meydan portal or in the manner the Authority specifies in its request or renewal checklist. Keep the signed auditor's report, the approved financial statements and the board or shareholder approval together.

The Regulations do not set a fixed fine for late audited accounts. What they do say, in Clause 14.2, is that the Authority may suspend or cancel a licence by written notice if the licensee has breached a clause of the Regulations or failed to meet an obligation under them, or has unpaid fees or fines. Failing to answer a request under Clause 42.1 falls within that power. We have not seen an official Meydan fine schedule for audit breaches, so we do not quote one.

Do not rely on informal statements that small Meydan companies are 'exempt'. Nothing in Part 9 says so, and the 30-day request rule applies to every company.

Meydan's rule exists alongside the federal corporate tax rule. For tax periods starting on or after 1 January 2025, Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 requires audited financial statements for:

• every Qualifying Free Zone Person, whatever its revenue;
• any taxable person with revenue above AED 50 million in the tax period;
• every tax group.

For earlier tax periods, Ministerial Decision No. 82 of 2023 applied. A Meydan company that claims the 0% rate therefore needs an annual audit even if the Authority never sends a request. Prepare one audited set and use it for both the FTA and Meydan.

A QFZP that distributes goods in or from a Designated Zone may also need an agreed-upon procedures report under FTA Decision No. 6 of 2026. For year-round QFZP housekeeping, see the QFZP annual compliance checklist.

1. Find your financial year end in your constitutional documents and note your next licence renewal date.
2. Decide whether you claim Qualifying Free Zone Person status, belong to a tax group or expect revenue above AED 50 million. If any applies, book an annual audit.
3. Ask Meydan in writing whether your renewal needs audited statements and for which year.
4. Choose an auditor registered with the UAE Ministry of Economy and check the register on the day you sign.
5. Notify the Authority within 15 business days of appointing or changing the auditor.
6. Keep records that would let an auditor finish within 30 days if the Authority asks: bank reconciliations, invoices, contracts and a fixed asset register.
7. Use one audited set for both the FTA return and any Meydan request.