TITLE: Key UAE Tax and Compliance Deadlines for Digital Businesses in Late August
File your 2025 Corporate Tax return by 30 September 2026
Businesses with a 31 December 2025 financial year end must submit their Corporate Tax return and settle any tax due by 30 September 2026.
You must file through EmaraTax, even if you expect to claim Small Business Relief.
Do not assume that relief removes your compliance obligations. The FTA confirmed on 3 August 2026 that eligible businesses must still:
- Register for Corporate Tax where required.
- Submit a simplified Corporate Tax return.
- Make the Small Business Relief election inside the return.
- Maintain appropriate accounting records.
- Pay any tax due by the statutory deadline.
The general rule is that the return and payment are due within nine months after the end of the relevant tax period. If your year end is different, calculate your deadline from that year-end date.
Elect Small Business Relief correctly
Ministerial Decision No. 131 of 2026 extends Small Business Relief to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029.
The AED 3 million revenue threshold remains unchanged.
Check these conditions before making the election:
- Measure the threshold against revenue, not profit.
- Check revenue for the current tax period.
- Check revenue for every previous tax period.
- Confirm that the business is an eligible UAE resident person.
- Exclude QFZPs and members of a qualifying Multinational Enterprise Group where the relevant exclusion applies.
- Make the election inside the Corporate Tax return.
Small Business Relief is not automatic. If your business is eligible but does not make the election correctly, you may not receive the intended treatment.
Keep sales reports, payment records, marketplace statements and accounting records together. This will help you prove revenue accurately and complete the return without last-minute corrections.
Prepare for mandatory supplier verification from 1 October
FTA Decision No. 13 of 2026 takes effect on 1 October 2026. It introduces mandatory supplier and supply verification requirements for input VAT recovery under Article 54 bis of the UAE VAT framework.
The FTA may deny input VAT recovery where a supply chain involves tax evasion and the required checks were not completed and documented.
This is particularly relevant to businesses with large purchasing volumes, cross-border supply chains, marketplaces and fast-growing operating models.
Verify each supplier at the right time
Complete supplier verification:
- The first time you deal with a supplier.
- Again when 12 months have passed since the previous verification.
- More extensively when the relevant value thresholds apply.
Your supplier file should address:
- Identity documents and official registration details.
- The identity and authority of the supplier’s representative.
- The supplier’s real place of business.
- Changes of address.
- Changes in key personnel.
- Transactions that appear disproportionate to the supplier’s size or trading history.
- Public reviews and media information where enhanced checks are required.
If annual supplies from one supplier exceed, or are expected to exceed, AED 375,000, obtain unqualified written confirmation from a UAE bank that the supplier holds an account there.
Verify the supply, not only the supplier
Supply verification applies to the commercial transaction itself. Document that:
- There is a genuine commercial reason for the purchase.
- The price is commercially justifiable.
- The goods or services fall within the supplier’s licensed activities.
- The title and origin of goods are sound.
- Any intermediary has a clear commercial role.
- Electronic payment was used, or the reason for cash payment is recorded.
Create a written verification policy as required by Article 5. The AED 10,000 de minimis exemption may apply to supplies below AED 10,000 excluding VAT. However, the exemption is disapplied once total supplies from that supplier exceed, or are expected to exceed, AED 100,000 over the preceding or following 12 months.
Once that cumulative threshold is reached, even smaller supplies from the same supplier require verification.
Track VAT Group exits and digital currency transactions
Two further VAT directives require operational changes.
Directive on Tax Transactions No. 2 of 2026 applies from 1 August 2026. If a former VAT Tax Group member remains VAT registered, it must report post-exit adjustments in its own VAT return.
Review transactions reported while the entity was part of the group. Track future credit notes, bad debt adjustments and input or output tax corrections so they are not incorrectly reported through the former group representative.
Directive on Tax Transactions No. 3 of 2026 clarifies how to convert digital currency into UAE dirhams for VAT purposes.
If you accept cryptocurrency as payment, review your conversion methodology. Keep consistent, time-stamped records showing the exchange rate, the conversion process and the AED value reported for VAT.
Start e-invoicing implementation now
The UAE e-invoicing programme is already moving through its pilot and voluntary phase, which began on 1 July 2026.
The current implementation timetable is:
- Businesses with revenue of AED 50 million or more: appoint an Accredited Service Provider by 30 October 2026 and go live by 1 January 2027.
- Businesses below AED 50 million: appoint an Accredited Service Provider by 31 March 2027 and go live by 1 July 2027.
- Government entities: go live by 1 October 2027.
The system currently covers B2B and B2G transactions. B2C transactions are not currently included.
A PDF invoice emailed to a customer is not the same as a compliant e-invoice. You need structured electronic data that can move through the approved system.
Review your accounting platform, invoicing workflow, customer master data and supplier records now. Early preparation gives you time to appoint a provider, map mandatory fields and test data flows before the go-live date.
Read the UAE Ministry of Finance e-invoicing guidance for the latest technical and implementation information.
Check QFZP reporting requirements
Qualifying Free Zone Persons distributing goods in or from a Designated Zone should review
