Corporate Tax Cost
What Corporate Tax Actually Costs a Dubai Business
Two numbers get confused whenever this comes up: the tax, and the cost of dealing with the tax. The first is 9% of a figure you can control by keeping proper records. The second is a professional fee, and it varies more than most people expect, for reasons that are worth understanding before you take a quote.
- What the government actually charges, which is less than people assume
- What drives a fee up or down, stated plainly
- Where the avoidable costs sit
- A fixed quote before any work starts
Dubai-based, FTA-aware corporate tax support for UAE businesses.
Last reviewed against current FTA guidance.
Quick Answer
Registering for UAE corporate tax through EmaraTax carries no government fee. The costs a business meets are professional fees for registration, bookkeeping, the tax computation, the return and, where required, the audit. Fees are driven by the state of the records, the number of entities, whether a free zone qualifying income claim is being made, and whether related-party transactions require transfer pricing work.
What the Government Charges
Corporate tax registration on EmaraTax is free. There is no application fee, no annual registration charge and no cost to obtain the tax registration number.
What the government does charge for is failure. AED 10,000 for registering late. AED 500 a month for a late return in the first year, then AED 1,000 a month. A late payment charge on unpaid tax, set at an annual rate since 14 April 2026. Every one of those is avoidable and none of them buys you anything.
- Registration on EmaraTax: no fee
- Late registration: AED 10,000
- Late filing: AED 500 a month, then AED 1,000
- Late payment: an annual-rate charge on the unpaid amount
- Late deregistration: AED 1,000 a month, capped at AED 10,000
What Actually Drives a Fee
The honest answer is the state of your books. A company with a clean trial balance, a closed year and documented related-party transactions is a straightforward engagement. A company with three shoeboxes and a bank feed is a bookkeeping job with a tax return attached, and it costs what bookkeeping costs.
Everything else is complexity: entities, claims and cross-border flows.
- How complete and reconciled the records are
- Number of entities and whether they group
- Whether a free zone qualifying income claim is made
- Related-party transactions and transfer pricing work
- Whether an audit is required for the period
- How much time is left before the deadline
The Cost People Forget: the Audit
An audit is a separate engagement with a separate fee, and it is not optional in every case. A free zone company claiming Qualifying Free Zone Person status needs audited financial statements whatever its revenue, and businesses above the revenue threshold need them regardless of zone.
Budgeting for the return but not the audit is the most common planning gap we see, and it shows up in month seven.
- A QFZP claim requires audited statements at any revenue
- Revenue thresholds trigger an audit independently
- The audit has to finish before the return can be finalised
- Audit and tax are separate engagements and separate fees
- Book the audit early or pay for urgency later
Where Businesses Pay Twice
Cheap now, expensive later, is a pattern with recognisable shapes. Books kept badly all year get rebuilt at tax time at a higher hourly rate. A qualifying income claim made without analysis gets defended under audit two years on. A deadline missed produces penalties that dwarf the fee that was saved.
The pattern is always the same. Work deferred to a moment when it has to be done under pressure.
- Year-end reconstruction instead of monthly bookkeeping
- A free zone claim with no analysis behind it
- Rush fees for work started too close to the deadline
- Penalties that exceed the fee they were meant to save
- A voluntary disclosure to fix a return filed carelessly
How to Read a Quote
Ask what is included and what is not. Specifically: does it cover the computation or only the submission, does it include the qualifying income analysis, does it include the disclosure form, and what happens if the records need work first.
A quote that cannot answer those is not a quote. It is an opening position.
- Computation, or submission only
- Whether the free zone analysis is included
- Whether the transfer pricing disclosure is included
- What happens if bookkeeping is needed first
- Whether the audit is inside or outside the fee
- Whether working papers are handed over at the end
How Exiloz Quotes
Fixed fee, quoted within 24 hours, against a written scope. We look at the licence, the last financial statements and the trial balance before quoting, because quoting without them means either padding the number or revising it later.
If the records need work first, that is quoted separately and you decide whether we do it or your bookkeeper does.
- Fixed fee against a written scope
- Quoted within 24 hours of seeing the file
- Bookkeeping clean-up priced separately and transparently
- No charge for the initial scoping conversation
- Working papers handed over with the return
How much does corporate tax registration cost in the UAE?
Registration on EmaraTax carries no government fee. Any cost is professional fees for handling the application. Registering late, by contrast, carries an AED 10,000 penalty.
What does it cost to file a corporate tax return?
It depends on the state of the records, the number of entities, whether a free zone qualifying income claim is being made and whether transfer pricing work is required. A fixed fee should be quoted against a written scope before work starts.
Is the audit included in the tax fee?
No. An audit is a separate engagement performed by an audit firm. Free zone companies claiming the 0% rate need one regardless of revenue, so it should be budgeted from the start.
Why do quotes vary so much?
Mostly because of bookkeeping. A reconciled trial balance and a closed year is a different engagement from a year that has to be rebuilt first, and the second is priced as the bookkeeping job it is.
Can we file the return ourselves?
You can. The submission is not the hard part; the computation and the supporting file are. Businesses with simple, well-kept books and no free zone claim sometimes manage it.
What is the cheapest way to stay compliant?
Keep the books current through the year and start the return at month three rather than month seven. Almost every large fee we see is the price of doing twelve months of work in four weeks.
Do we pay tax if we make no profit?
There is no tax on a loss, but the return is still due and the filing penalties still apply if it is late. Zero tax does not mean zero obligation.
What does a health check cost compared with a full engagement?
A health check is a fixed-scope review and is priced well below a full compliance engagement. It is usually the cheapest way to find out what the full engagement will involve.
Do you charge for the first conversation?
No. We look at the licence, the last statements and the trial balance, then quote a fixed fee within 24 hours.
The rest of what we do
Licence, visas, bank account, books and the first tax return: handled by the same team, so the structure has to survive its first year.
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Mainland vs Free Zone
Pick the jurisdiction before the licence. The decision that survives year one.
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PRO & Document Clearing
Establishment card, immigration file, visas, medicals and attestation.
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VAT Registration
Threshold checks, grouping and registration handled against the FTA's current rules.
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VAT Return Filing
VAT201 prepared, reconciled and filed, with the position documented.
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Corporate Tax Registration
Every taxable person must register, including free zone companies applying 0%.
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Corporate Tax Filing
Returns, elections and the qualifying income analysis behind them.
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Accounting & Bookkeeping
Books kept audit-ready from month one, not reconstructed at year end.
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Audit Preparation
Schedules, reconciliations and the evidence your auditor will ask for.
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Get the Number Before You Commit
Send the licence, the last financial statements and the trial balance. Fixed fee against a written scope, back within 24 hours.
