What corporate accounting covers

The books are the start. Around them sit an audit, two taxes, three registers and the payroll. Here is the whole of it.

General information, checked on 14 November 2026. Rules change, and this is not legal or tax advice. Each statement shows the number of its source.

The books

Every company keeps accounting records that show its transactions.¹
Keep them: five years under the companies law, seven years for corporate tax, five years for VAT.^{1 2 3}
Financial statements follow IFRS. A company with revenue up to AED 50 million may use IFRS for SMEs.⁴
Cash-basis accounting is allowed while revenue stays at or under AED 3 million.⁴

Every limited liability company and joint stock company has its accounts audited each year.¹
For corporate tax, audited statements are required above AED 50 million of revenue, and for every Qualifying Free Zone Person.⁵

0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000, then 9%.⁶
Register within three months of incorporation. The penalty for registering late is AED 10,000.^{7 8}
That penalty is waived if the first return is filed within seven months of the end of the first tax period.⁹
The return and the payment are due within nine months of the end of the financial year.²
Small Business Relief: with revenue of AED 3 million or less, a company may elect to be treated as having no taxable income. It covers only tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026, and is not open to a Qualifying Free Zone Person.^{10 11}
Transfer pricing files are required once the company's revenue reaches AED 200 million, or its group's reaches AED 3.15 billion.¹²

5%. Registration is mandatory above AED 375,000 of taxable supplies a year, and optional above AED 187,500.^{13 14}
Returns are quarterly below AED 150 million of turnover and monthly from there up.¹⁵
The return and the payment are due by the 28th day after the period ends.¹⁴
Since 1 January 2026 there is a five-year limit to reclaim excess VAT, and a business must check that a supply is genuine before deducting its input tax.¹⁶

Revenue of AED 50 million or more: e-invoicing starts on 1 January 2027.¹⁷
Below AED 50 million: appoint an accredited service provider by 31 March 2027 and start by 1 July 2027.¹⁷
Sales to consumers are outside the system until a later decision.¹⁷

Keep a record of beneficial owners and a register of partners or shareholders. Update each within 15 days of a change.¹⁸
Wages are paid through the Wage Protection System and fall due on the first day of the next month.¹⁹
End-of-service gratuity for foreign staff: 21 days of basic wage per year for the first five years and 30 days per year after, capped at two years' wage, paid within 14 days of the contract ending.²⁰

Each month: you send the month's papers, we reconcile the books in the ledger, and you approve the month's report.
Each VAT period: we prepare the working file from the ledger, you approve the return, a registered tax agent approves it, it is filed, and the proof of payment is recorded.
Each year: the corporate tax return.
Every date above sits in your one calendar, with who acts on it.

Accounting, VAT and corporate tax: monthly books, VAT returns and the corporate tax return.
PRO and compliance: renewals done for you and every deadline in one calendar.
Cross-border tax coordination: tax questions in the US, India or Germany spotted early and handed to an adviser there.

Tell us what you want to set up or keep in order. We will say plainly what we can do and when we open.