24 July 2026 · How Long
How Long to Keep Tax Records
The UAE sets retention periods by tax type rather than one blanket rule. Corporate-tax records must be kept for at least 7 years after the end of the relevant tax period, under Article 56 of Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022. VAT records must generally be kept for at least 5 years, and real-estate records for at least 15 years, under the Tax Procedures Law framework. The clock starts at the end of the tax period a record relates to, not the date you filed the return or the date printed on the document, so a return filed the following year still counts its retention window from the year it covers. The obligation applies equally to taxable persons and to exempt persons, who must keep records to prove they genuinely qualify for whatever exemption they claim. Where a single record supports more than one tax, keep it for the longest applicable period rather than splitting the file by regime.
Exiloz Management & Tax Consultant · Dubai-based FTA-focused advisory · VAT, corporate tax & accounting
Periods by tax
Different taxes carry different minimum retention floors, and the length depends on what the record supports rather than the type of business holding it. Corporate tax sets the baseline at 7 years, VAT typically requires 5, and anything tied to real estate has to survive the longest, at 15 years, because a property transaction can affect a tax position long after the deal itself has closed. Both taxable and exempt persons carry the same underlying duty: the record has to exist and be produced if the FTA asks, whether or not the business paid any tax that year.
- Corporate tax: at least 7 years after the end of the relevant tax period, under Article 56.
- VAT: at least 5 years, running from the end of the tax period the return covers.
- Real estate: at least 15 years, the longest of the three periods.
- Applies equally to taxable and exempt persons, with no lighter duty for a nil return.
- The clock starts at the end of the tax period, not the filing date or the invoice date.
- A record supporting more than one tax carries a separate clock for each regime it touches.
Keep to the longest
Many records do more than one job. A single property-related invoice can sit inside a corporate-tax return, a VAT return and a long-term real-estate file all at once, and each of those carries a different minimum period. Rather than tracking three separate expiry dates for one document, the practical approach is to apply the longest period touching the record and keep it until that date, which in a property-related file is almost always the 15-year rule.
- A record can serve multiple taxes at once, each with its own retention clock.
- Keep it for the longest applicable period, not the shortest one that technically applies.
- Real-estate records run longest, at 15 years, and tend to set the outer limit for mixed files.
- When a document's classification is unclear, default to retaining it longer rather than shorter.
- Set one retention date per document rather than juggling separate VAT and corporate-tax deadlines for the same file.
What the clock looks like in practice
Take a company that files its first corporate-tax return for the FY2024 tax period in September 2025. Article 56 counts seven years from the end of the tax period the return covers, not from the filing date, so every ledger, invoice, contract and asset register behind that return needs to survive until at least the end of 2031. If that same year included a property sale, the records behind that transaction need to survive far longer, until around 2039, under the 15-year real-estate rule. A business that tracks only 'seven years from when I filed' will, in a case like this, destroy real-estate evidence years too early.
- The retention clock runs from the end of the tax period, not the date you filed the return.
- A 2024 corporate-tax return generally needs its supporting records kept until at least the end of 2031.
- Property-related records from the same year can need to survive until around 2039 under the 15-year rule.
- Filing early does not shorten the clock, and filing late does not extend it.
Related guides
Frequently Asked Questions
For businesses setting or reviewing a retention policy, and wanting to know exactly which clock applies to which document.
How long for corporate-tax records?
At least 7 years after the end of the relevant tax period, under Article 56 of Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022. The period is measured from when the tax period ended, not from your filing date, so it can effectively run longer than seven years from the day you actually submitted the return.
How long for VAT records?
At least 5 years from the end of the relevant tax period. This is the shortest of the three main periods, so applying it by mistake to corporate-tax or real-estate records is one of the most common retention errors we see.
How long for real-estate records?
At least 15 years, the longest period in the UAE retention framework. It reflects how long a property transaction can stay relevant to later tax positions, well beyond the life of an ordinary VAT or corporate-tax file.
Does the retention period apply to exempt persons too?
Yes. Exempt persons must keep records for the same periods as taxable persons, because those records are what demonstrate the business genuinely meets the conditions for the exemption it is claiming.
When does the retention clock actually start?
From the end of the tax period the record relates to, not the date on the invoice or the date you filed the return. A record from a period that ended in December still counts its retention window from that December, however late the return itself was filed.
What if one record is relevant to more than one tax?
Apply the longest period that touches it. A document supporting both a VAT return and a real-estate transaction should be kept for 15 years, not the shorter 5-year VAT period, so you stay covered on the longer-running obligation.
Can Exiloz set our retention policy?
Yes. We map every category of document your business holds to the correct 7, 5 or 15-year period, apply the longest-period rule wherever records overlap, and build a policy your team can actually follow month to month.
Set your retention policy
Exiloz maps every record your business holds to the correct 7, 5 or 15-year period, applies the longest-period rule automatically wherever a document overlaps two taxes, and keeps the policy current as your filings change.