Corporate tax returns for 2025 are due on Wednesday. Here is who has to file.

The Federal Tax Authority has set 30 September as the last day for companies with a December year end to file and pay. The rule behind the date matters more than the date itself.

Companies whose financial year ended on 31 December 2025 have until Wednesday, 30 September, to file their corporate tax return and pay whatever is owed. The Federal Tax Authority repeated the deadline in a release on 2 September and again last week, and it has been clear about who is covered: every taxable person with that year end, including businesses that qualify for Small Business Relief, and exempt persons who were required to register and now owe an annual declaration.

The date is not a special one. It follows from the rule that a return and payment are due within nine months of the end of a tax period. A company with a 31 March year end has until the end of December. A company with a 30 June year end has until the end of March. The September date only looks universal because most companies in the UAE close their books in December.

Filing and payment go through EmaraTax, either directly or through an approved tax agent. Businesses under the Small Business Relief threshold of AED 3 million in revenue file a simplified return, but they still file, and they still have to elect the relief on that return. Under the Ministry of Finance's decision of July, the relief now runs to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029.

Missing the date has a price that is fixed rather than proportional. Under Cabinet Decision 75 of 2023, as amended in 2024, a late return costs AED 500 for each month or part of a month for the first twelve months, and AED 1,000 a month after that. Late payment is charged separately, at 14% a year on the unpaid tax, calculated monthly from the day after the due date. Because the penalty runs per month or part of a month, a return filed on 1 October costs the same as one filed on 30 October.

Founders who licensed a company during 2025 should check one thing before assuming Wednesday applies to them. Under the FTA's public clarification on first tax periods, a company's first financial year can legally run anywhere from 6 to 18 months, and the FTA accepts that period as the first tax period. A company incorporated in, say, August 2025 with a December year end may have a first period that runs to December 2026, which puts its first deadline in September 2027. The period is shown on the company's EmaraTax profile. If it does not match the trade license and the articles, that is a question for a tax agent this week, not next.

The practical order for the next two days is short. Confirm the tax period on EmaraTax. Confirm the return type, full or simplified. Gather the records that support the revenue figure and, if relevant, the relief election, since the FTA requires those to be kept. File, then pay. The two are separate obligations with separate penalties, and a filed return does not stop the payment clock.