Corporate Tax Filing Cost in Abu Dhabi: Fees and Deadlines

Our corporate tax filing fee starts at AED 299 per year, VAT-exclusive, and it covers the preparation and submission of your annual corporate tax return from records you supply in good order. It pays for professional work on the computation and the filing, not for tax itself, and it never includes government fees.

The Federal Tax Authority charges nothing for corporate tax registration on EmaraTax, so nobody should sell you a registration fee. Our invoice adds VAT at 5% where it applies. The starting level assumes reconciled books, a clear trial balance and supporting documents that match the figures we file. When we must reconstruct a year, untangle personal and business spending or repair a broken opening position, the work grows beyond filing alone and the fee rises accordingly. We scope that extra work in writing before we start, so you approve the full cost before any deadline pressure builds.

In Abu Dhabi, your tax period follows the financial year tied to your licence. The Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, known as ADDED, issues mainland licences through the TAMM portal, and your first tax period runs from incorporation. Your financial year end then sets the filing deadline, because the corporate tax return falls due within 9 months of the tax period end.

A worked example shows how the dates lock together. Suppose ADDED records your incorporation on 1 April 2025 and your financial year ends on 31 March. Your first tax period runs from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026, and your return falls due within 9 months of that period end, by 31 December 2026. Every bookkeeping close, audit step and document request in our calendar counts backwards from that date. Companies that learn their deadline late compress a year of preparation into a few anxious weeks, while companies that plan from incorporation file calmly from records they already trust.

Statutory rates, not estimates, drive this example. UAE corporate tax charges 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% on taxable income above that amount. Take an Abu Dhabi trading company with taxable income of AED 500,000 for its tax period. The computation runs as follows. The first AED 375,000 bears tax at 0%, which gives AED 0. The remaining AED 125,000, calculated as AED 500,000 minus AED 375,000, bears tax at 9%, which gives AED 11,250. The company therefore pays AED 11,250 of corporate tax for the period.

That AED 11,250 is the tax, not the fee. Our filing fee starts at AED 299 per year either way, because preparing and filing the return takes the same professional care whatever the computation produces. Keep the two figures separate in your budget. The tax belongs to the Federal Tax Authority, the fee pays for accurate preparation, and confusing them leads companies to under budget for one or to overpay for the other.

Small Business Relief lets an eligible resident business with revenue at or under AED 3,000,000 elect treatment that produces no taxable income for the period. The election remains available for tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029. A company that elects relief therefore pays AED 0 of corporate tax for that period on the strength of the election.

Relief removes the tax, never the filing. The company still prepares and submits its corporate tax return by the same deadline, still keeps records for 7 years, and still needs figures that prove revenue stayed within the relief threshold. Our filing fee starts at AED 299 per year for a relief case as well, since we verify eligibility, document the election and file the return with the same care. Businesses that treat a zero tax outcome as a zero compliance outcome create exactly the gap that penalties later fill, and relief cases deserve the same tidy records as fully taxable cases.

Abu Dhabi free zone companies in KEZAD, Masdar City and twofour54, and ADGM companies, can seek treatment as a Qualifying Free Zone Person, often shortened to QFZP, when they meet the statutory conditions. That status changes the computation the return carries, so the filing work includes evidence that the conditions held throughout the period.

One condition matters above all in practice. A QFZP must prepare and maintain audited financial statements, so the filing calendar must leave room for that audit before the return falls due. Substance, qualifying income analysis and de minimis testing also feed the position we file. We therefore scope QFZP filings separately from standard mainland filings, confirm the audited statements timetable at the start, and build the return from statements and analysis that support the treatment claimed. A free zone address alone never secures the outcome. The records, the statements and the analysis secure it, and the return simply reports what they prove.

Late and careless filing costs far more than careful filing. The penalty for late corporate tax registration is AED 10,000, and registration itself is free on EmaraTax, so delay buys nothing and risks a substantial penalty. A voluntary disclosure made after an error surfaces carries its own cost of waiting, charged at 15% of the tax difference plus 1% per month under Cabinet Decision 75 of 2023, which rewards early correction and punishes silence.

Records failures add further exposure. Failing to keep required records draws AED 10,000 per violation and AED 20,000 for a repeat within 24 months, while failing to produce records in Arabic on request adds AED 5,000. You must keep corporate tax records for 7 years. Filing on time from reconciled books avoids this entire layer of cost, and it costs less than any single penalty on the list.

Next step: Corporate Tax Filing Cost in Abu Dhabi: Fees and Deadlines. Send your trade licence and your last return, and we will confirm the fixed fee on the call. Book a free 15-minute fit check