Your 2025 UAE tax and compliance calendar: staying ahead of deadlines

If you want more details, you will find them here.

For businesses, staying compliant means avoiding unnecessary costs and maintaining a positive reputation. Compliance demonstrates responsibility and organization. Think of tax deadlines as appointments that you cannot miss. If you're on time, everything will run smoothly. However, if you're late, you may face fines, extra fees, or even legal issues.

Sometimes it's hard to keep up with everything in the UAE, because there are so many different types of reports. To avoid getting confused, you could always delegate this task to some professionals who know the ins and outs and can help you keep track of all the deadlines. If you're unsure about which reports to submit or when, just give us a call, and we'll help you out.

All UAE businesses must renew their trade license annually.

• Mainland companies: Contact the DED (Dubai Economic Department or relevant emirate authority) to renew.
• Free Zone companies: Contact the Free Zone authority directly to initiate the renewal process.

You must apply to renew (extend) your employees' or family members' resident visas before their current visas expire. The UAE generally grants a grace period for residency visas after their expiration date. The length of the grace period depends on the type of visa.
However, exceeding this period will result in daily fines and could cause problems with future documentation.

All UAE residents are required to have health insurance, and it must be renewed by strict deadlines.

• Sponsor obligation: In Dubai and Abu Dhabi, employers or private sponsors (visa holders) are required by law to maintain valid health insurance policies for their employees or sponsored individuals for the entire term of their visas. The policy must be active before the visa is renewed.
• Renewal period: In general, health insurance policies must be renewed before they expire. If your insurance lapses, you may face fines when applying for a visa renewal.
• Changes Due to "Qualifying Life Events" (QLEs): Unlike a standard annual renewal, if there are changes to your insurance coverage (like adding a new baby or spouse), you need to get in touch with your insurance company or HR within 30 days of the event happening. If you don't, you might have to wait until the next renewal period to make any changes.

Corporate Tax is one of the main taxes any business in the UAE must deal with. It also applies to self-employed individuals, such as freelancers. Companies with a turnover exceeding AED 375,000 are required to pay the standard rate of 9%. If the turnover is less than that, nothing needs to be paid. However, registration is still required, even if no payment is due.

Therefore, it's important to know all the deadlines for this tax. Two key points to highlight here are Corporate Tax registration and Corporate Tax return.

Each business should decide on its own year-end date and make sure to meet the filing and payment deadlines for that period. These deadlines are usually 9 months after the end of the tax year for which you're filing your taxes.

In the UAE, auditing is mandatory for most companies, particularly those registered in Free Zones. The deadline for submitting an audit report depends on the company's jurisdiction (Mainland or Free Zone) and is usually calculated from the end of the financial year (financial year end, FYE).

The audit must be completed well before the Corporate Tax deadline in July or August to ensure an accurate and timely tax return.

Value Added Tax (VAT) is a consumption tax. It is applied at each stage of the supply chain. This requires businesses to collect and remit tax to the Federal Tax Authority (FTA). Many companies are required to register for and collect VAT. For example, this is required if their turnover exceeds AED 375,000 per year. Businesses whose supplies are valued between 187,500 and 375,000 AED can register voluntarily.

There are a few exceptions to this rule. We have discussed these exceptions in these two articles:

• VAT exemptions
• Exports and Imports under VAT in UAE

The deadline for submitting a UAE VAT return is typically the 28th day of the month following each quarterly reporting period. However, if the 28th falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the deadline is moved to the next business day.

In addition to filing their VAT returns, businesses in the UAE need to pay their VAT by the due date. If they're late, there will be penalties based on how many days they're behind. This is what will happen if you don't do it on time:

• Failure to file VAT returns will result in a fine of AED 1,000 for the first offense and AED 2,000 for subsequent offenses.
• For any late VAT payment, you'll face 2% penalty on any unpaid tax immediately following the due date. Additionally, you can get 4% monthly penalty for starting one month after the due date.

The Wage Protection System (WPS) ensures timely salary payments in the UAE.

• For mainland companies: must pay salaries by the 15th of each month (for the previous month).
• For Free Zone companies: Follow the rules of the Free Zone, usually within 10–15 days after the end of the month.
• For freelancers or sole proprietors: WPS not required, but you must still maintain clear payment records to avoid compliance issues.

The UAE Ministry of Economy (MoE) and the Central Bank have set strict deadlines for registration and reporting for businesses classified as Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs). These businesses include real estate brokers, dealers of precious metals and stones, independent accountants, lawyers, and corporate service providers.

All DNFBPs must file the Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) declaration, listing real owners behind the company. The deadline is within 15 days of any ownership change, and annually before 31 December 2025.

Excise tax applies to goods that are harmful to human health or the environment, such as tobacco products, energy drinks and soft drinks. For most businesses, excise tax returns and payments are usually due on the 15th day of the month after the end of the tax period.

n short, you could get fined. Plus, for some types of violations, there might be other consequences, like account blocking, etc. Here are some of the most common fines you may face:

Corporate Tax fines

• AED 10,000 fine for missing the CT registration deadline.
• AED 10,000–20,000 for failure to maintain required accounting records.

VAT fines

• Late VAT registration – AED 10,000 fine
• Failure to file VAT returns – AED 1,000 for the first offense, AED 2,000 for subsequent offenses