How to register for UAE Corporate Tax

Corporate Tax registration is done by you, online, and the Federal Tax Authority charges nothing for it. The Authority estimates 25 minutes to submit the application, and gives 20 business days from the date it receives a completed application as the time to process it. What you end up with is a Corporate Tax Registration Number.

Who this guide is for

Anyone who owns a UAE company and has not yet registered for Corporate Tax. The FTA describes the audience for this service as all persons required to, or entitled to, register with the Authority.

It is written for someone doing it themselves: the Authority publishes this as a self-service application on EmaraTax, and lists the service as free of charge. Whether you would rather have a registered tax agent handle it is your call, and a separate one.

Signing in: you do not need UAE PASS

EmaraTax offers UAE PASS, the UAE’s single digital identity for citizens, residents and visitors, and it is the quickest route if you already have it. But the sign-in page also carries a separate path — "Non UAE PASS users may Login here, or Signup Here" — so not having UAE PASS does not stop you registering. If you have been putting this off because you thought UAE PASS was a prerequisite, it is not.

Finding your own deadline

Your registration deadline is set by Federal Tax Authority Decision No. (3) of 2024, which the FTA cites for juridical and natural persons alike. We do not restate its timetable here, because a deadline copied wrongly is worse than no deadline at all. Two places give you your own date: the decision itself, and the Corporate Tax Registration User Guide, which the Authority links from the registration service card in the sources below.

What registering does not settle

• Whether you are exempt. Registration is an administrative step; exemption is a separate question decided by the Corporate Tax Law, not by whether you hold a registration number.
• What you will owe. Registering creates no liability by itself.

If you are a natural person rather than a company

The FTA states that a natural person must register where total revenue from conducting business or business activities exceeds AED 1 million within a calendar year. The Authority excludes three sources of income from that revenue calculation: salary, private investment income, and real estate investment income.

If you have branches

The FTA notes that UAE branches of a domestic juridical person are an extension of the parent or head office and are not separate legal entities, so they are not required to register or file for Corporate Tax separately.

What to have ready before you start

The Authority lists these documents for the application:

• Certificate of Incorporation, Memorandum of Association, or Partnership Agreement, if you have one.
• Commercial Registration Certificate, or any official document issued by your licensing authority.
• Valid trade licence, including branch licences where they apply.
• Emirates ID and passport for any owner holding more than 25% ownership, and for the authorised signatories.
• Proof of authorisation for the signatory.

Government entities are also asked for the relevant Decree Law, and Qualifying Public Benefit Entities for the Cabinet Decision. Files must be PDF, and no single document may exceed 15 MB.

The steps, as the Authority sets them out

1. Register and activate an account in EmaraTax.
2. Open the EmaraTax dashboard.
3. Create a new Taxable Person profile.
4. Click “View” to open that Taxable Person account.
5. On the right-hand side, open the three-dot “Action” menu under Corporate Tax.
6. Click “Register”.
7. Complete the application and submit it for review.

EmaraTax is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Start from the FTA page linked in the sources below rather than from a search result, so you know you are on the Authority’s own platform.

If you are already late

The FTA states that an administrative penalty of AED 10,000 applies for late Corporate Tax registration.

The Authority also describes a Corporate Tax Late Registration Penalty Waiver Initiative. Under it, a taxable person can be exempted from that AED 10,000 penalty provided the first Tax Return — or the Annual Declaration, for exempt persons where that applies — is submitted within seven months from the end of the first tax period. The FTA says the initiative reaches people who registered late, people who have not yet submitted a registration application, and people already charged the penalty, whether or not they have paid it; where it has been paid, the Authority says the amount is credited back to the tax account once the conditions are met.

Read the initiative’s own conditions on the FTA page before relying on it. We describe what the Authority publishes; we do not decide that you qualify.

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