How the FTA sets Corporate Tax registration deadlines by trade licence month, the rules for new and natural persons, the AED 10,000 late penalty, and what to do if you're already late.
Of all the Corporate Tax obligations, registration deadlines have caused the most confusion — partly because the FTA set different dates for different businesses, and partly because many of those dates have already passed. If you have not yet registered your business for Corporate Tax, this is the article to read, because being late carries a fixed AED 10,000 penalty and the only way to limit the damage is to act now.
Here is how the deadlines were set, how to work out yours, and what to do if you have missed it.
Why the deadline matters
Corporate Tax registration is mandatory for almost every business, as we explain in our Corporate Tax overview. To manage the huge number of registrations, the FTA did not give everyone the same date. Instead, it published a timetable that staggered deadlines across 2024, mainly based on when your trade licence was issued.
Miss your deadline and the penalty is AED 10,000. It is a one-off administrative penalty, but it applies regardless of whether you would have owed any tax — so even a business comfortably within the 0% band, or one expecting Small Business Relief, gets penalised for registering late.
Deadlines for businesses that existed before March 2024
For resident companies that were already in existence, the FTA set registration deadlines according to the month your trade licence was issued — and, importantly, the year of issuance does not matter, only the month. If you hold more than one licence, the earliest issuance date is used.
| Month of licence issuance | Registration deadline |
|---|---|
| January or February | 31 May 2024 |
| March or April | 30 June 2024 |
| May | 31 July 2024 |
| June | 31 August 2024 |
| July | 30 September 2024 |
| August or September | 31 October 2024 |
| October or November | 30 November 2024 |
| December | 31 December 2024 |
Businesses that did not hold a licence at the effective date of the rules were given three months to register.
As you can see, every one of these dates is now in the past. If your company existed before March 2024 and you have not registered, you are already past your deadline and should treat registration as urgent.
Deadlines for businesses set up from March 2024 onward
If your company was incorporated or established more recently, the deadline is tied to your incorporation date rather than a fixed calendar date. Broadly:
- A resident company newly incorporated in the UAE generally has three months from the date of incorporation or establishment to register.
- Companies established under the laws of a foreign jurisdiction but effectively managed and controlled in the UAE have their own timeframe.
- Non-resident persons with a permanent establishment or nexus in the UAE have separate, longer windows.
The practical takeaway is the same: for a new business, register early. Three months passes quickly when you are setting up, and the penalty for missing it is the same AED 10,000.
Natural persons (individuals)
Individuals running a business are only within Corporate Tax if their business turnover exceeds AED 1 million in a Gregorian calendar year. Where that applies, the registration deadline is 31 March of the following year. So a sole proprietor who crossed AED 1 million during 2024 needed to register by 31 March 2025.
How to find your deadline
Pin down three facts and your deadline usually becomes clear:
- Is the taxable person a company or an individual?
- For a company, when was the trade licence first issued (or when was the entity incorporated)?
- For an individual, in which year did business turnover pass AED 1 million?
With those answers, the timetable above tells you the date. If you hold multiple licences or have a more complex structure, it is worth confirming rather than guessing — the penalty for getting it wrong is not trivial.
What to do if you have already missed your deadline
First, do not let it slide further. The AED 10,000 penalty is a fixed amount for being late; it does not keep growing the way late-payment penalties do, but leaving the business unregistered keeps you non-compliant and exposed if the FTA follows up. The right response is to register as soon as possible and get your tax period and first return deadline confirmed.
If you are in this position, you are far from alone — a great many UAE businesses registered after their official date once the rules became clearer. Getting registered now is what stops a single fixed penalty turning into a tangle of further issues at filing time.
After registration: don’t forget filing
Registration is only step one. Once registered, you must file a Corporate Tax return within nine months of the end of your tax period. For a calendar-year business, a year ending 31 December 2024 means a return due by 30 September 2025. Plenty of businesses register on time and then lose track of the filing deadline, so put it in the calendar the day your registration is confirmed.
How Tax Assist UAE can help
We make registration quick and certain. As part of our Corporate Tax registration service, starting from AED 100, we confirm your exact deadline, complete the EmaraTax application, secure your registration number, and tell you precisely when your first return is due. If you are already late, we prioritise getting you registered to close off any further risk. Send us your trade licence details and we will confirm where you stand today.
Tax Assist UAE takes care of VAT and Corporate Tax registration and filing for UAE small businesses — for a clear fixed fee.
This article is general information, not tax advice. UAE tax rules, rates and deadlines are set by the Federal Tax Authority and can change. Confirm your position with the FTA or a qualified advisor before acting.
