Every UAE business — mainland LLC, free zone company, branch office, or sole establishment — must register for corporate tax on the FTA's EmaraTax portal. Miss your registration deadline and the penalty is AED 10,000. This guide explains who needs to register, what the (now-passed) original staggered rollout deadlines were, the current rule for newly incorporated companies, and how to complete registration step by step.
The FTA's one-time, licence-month-based registration rollout ran through 2024 and early 2025 — every date in that schedule is now in the past. If your business incorporated before those dates and still hasn't registered, you are already late and the AED 10,000 penalty applies regardless of how much further time passes. Register on EmaraTax now to stop further compliance issues. If you incorporated more recently, the rule that applies to you is the ongoing 3-month-from-incorporation rule further down this page.
CT registration is a one-time obligation to set up your tax account. Filing your CT return is a separate annual obligation due 9 months after your financial year-end. Both carry independent penalties for non-compliance.
The following entities are required to register for corporate tax in the UAE:
Even if your free zone company qualifies for the 0% Qualifying Free Zone Person rate, you are still legally required to register for corporate tax and file a CT return every year. The 0% rate does not remove your registration obligation.
When UAE corporate tax registration first opened, the FTA issued one-time staggered deadlines based on the month a business's trade licence was issued. This schedule applied to businesses that already existed when CT registration launched — it is historical and every date in it has now passed. It is included here for reference and for businesses catching up on a missed registration.
| Licence Issuance Month | Original CT Registration Deadline |
|---|---|
| January or February | 31 May 2024 (passed) |
| March or April | 30 June 2024 (passed) |
| May or June | 31 July 2024 (passed) |
| July or August | 31 August 2024 (passed) |
| September or October | 30 September 2024 (passed) |
| November or December | 31 October 2024 (passed) |
| No licence / Natural persons | 31 March 2025 (passed) |
If your business existed before this rollout and still hasn't registered, none of these dates are your deadline anymore — you are simply late, register today. The base penalty is AED 10,000, and additional penalties can apply the longer registration is delayed, so the sooner you register the lower your total exposure. If your business was incorporated after this rollout completed, skip ahead to the current rule below — it applies to you instead.
The FTA imposes a fixed administrative penalty of AED 10,000 for failure to register for corporate tax by the required deadline. This is separate from any penalties that may apply for late filing or late payment of CT.
If you missed your registration deadline and register late, your CT return deadline is still calculated from your financial year-end — not your registration date. You may owe both a late registration penalty and a late filing penalty simultaneously.
Registration is completed online through the FTA's EmaraTax portal. The process takes 20–40 minutes if you have your documents ready.
Go to emaratax.gov.ae and sign in using your UAE Pass account. If you are an existing VAT registrant, use your existing FTA login credentials. New users must create an account first using UAE Pass.
From your EmaraTax dashboard, click Register for New Tax and select Corporate Tax from the tax type options. If you already have a VAT TRN, your basic company details will be pre-populated.
You will need to enter: legal entity type, trade licence number and issuing authority, financial year start and end dates, principal business activities, and details of any group companies. Free zone companies must also specify their free zone and indicate whether they intend to claim QFZP status.
Attach a copy of your valid trade licence, Memorandum of Association (MOA), and passport or Emirates ID of the authorised signatory. For free zone companies, also attach your free zone registration certificate.
Submit the completed application. The FTA typically processes CT registrations within 5–20 business days. Once approved, you will receive a Corporate Tax Registration Number (CT TRN) — separate from your VAT TRN — which you will use on all CT returns and correspondence.
Your registration deadline, filing deadline, and payment due date are monitored from your financial year configuration — no manual calendar tracking needed.
Prepare the following before starting your EmaraTax CT registration to avoid interruptions:
Once registered, your key ongoing obligations are:
Once registered, estimate your first CT liability using our free UAE Corporate Tax Calculator. Enter your net profit and check whether you qualify for Small Business Relief (revenue under AED 3 million).
This is the rule that actually governs your registration deadline if your company was incorporated after the original 2024 rollout above. All newly incorporated UAE entities must register for corporate tax within 3 months of their date of incorporation, regardless of the month they are licensed.
For example: a company incorporated on 1 September 2026 must register for CT by 30 November 2026. Starting trading does not extend this deadline — it is tied strictly to incorporation date, not to when you issue your first invoice.
Register immediately through EmaraTax. The original licence-month deadlines applied only to the initial 2024 rollout and are no longer relevant to your next action — every UAE business that has not yet registered is already late and accruing exposure to the AED 10,000 penalty. There is no way to avoid the penalty once the original deadline has passed, but registering now stops any further compliance issues, such as being unable to file your CT return.
The FTA imposes a penalty of AED 10,000 for failure to register for corporate tax by the required deadline. Additional penalties may apply for continued non-compliance. Registering as soon as possible after the deadline reduces total penalty exposure.
Yes. All UAE-incorporated entities — including free zone companies — must register for corporate tax on EmaraTax by their registration deadline. Even Qualifying Free Zone Persons (QFZPs) who pay 0% tax on qualifying income must register and file a CT return.
Log in to EmaraTax (emaratax.gov.ae) using UAE Pass or your existing FTA credentials. Go to Register for New Tax, select Corporate Tax, and complete the registration form with your trade licence number, financial year end, and business details. You will receive a Tax Registration Number (TRN) for CT purposes upon approval.
No. These are two separate deadlines. The registration deadline is when you must register your business on EmaraTax for CT purposes. The filing deadline is when you must submit your CT return — which is 9 months after the end of your financial year. Missing either deadline triggers separate penalties.
Yes. Newly incorporated UAE entities must register for corporate tax within 3 months of incorporation, regardless of whether they have started trading or generating revenue. The registration deadline is tied to your incorporation date, not the start of trading.