UAE economic substance checker
Check whether the economic substance regime reaches your financial year.
Open itEmirati corporate tax charges nothing on the first slice of taxable income and nine per cent above it, with a revenue-based relief for small businesses. Enter your figures and this says what is payable and what relief you can reach.
The business
AED
Accounting profit adjusted as the law requires.
AED
Used for the small business relief test, which is a revenue test not a profit test.
AED
The first 375,000 dirhams of taxable income is charged at nothing.
%
Nine per cent on taxable income above the band.
The relief treats the business as having no taxable income for the period. It is an election, not automatic.
AED
Three million dirhams of revenue in the period and in every previous period.
The relief applies to periods ending on or before the sunset date below.
Extended to 31 December 2029. Change it if it moves again.
A free zone person on the qualifying regime cannot also take small business relief.
Corporate tax payable
—
Effective rate on taxable income —
Small business relief applied —
Eligible for the relief —
Registration and filing —
Nil-rate band—
Income inside the band—
Income above the band—
Rate above the band—
Headroom below the band—
Revenue headroom before the relief is lost—
What blocks the relief—
A nil band, a single rate, and a relief that is a revenue test
Emirati corporate tax applies to taxable income above a nil-rate band of 375,000 dirhams, at nine per cent. Below the band the charge is nothing — but registration and filing are still required, which is the point most new businesses get wrong in their first period.
Small business relief works differently: it is a revenue test, not a profit test. A business whose revenue is at or below three million dirhams in the period, and in every previous period, can elect to be treated as having no taxable income at all. A highly profitable business on modest revenue therefore reaches the relief, and a low-margin business on large revenue does not, however small its profit.
Two things that switch the relief off
The relief has a sunset. It was originally available for periods ending on or before the end of 2026 and has since been extended to periods ending on or before 31 December 2029. The date field here is editable for exactly that reason — a relief with an end date is a relief that gets extended, and a hard-coded date would eventually be wrong.
The second switch is the free zone regime. A business that qualifies as a free zone person on the qualifying-income basis cannot also take small business relief; it is one route or the other. The readout names which of the two is blocking the relief on your figures rather than just returning a no.
Worked example
A mainland consultancy has 2.6 million dirhams of revenue and 900,000 of taxable income in a period ending 31 December 2026.
- Revenue is under three million and the period ends before the sunset, so small business relief is available.
- Claiming it, the business is treated as having no taxable income and pays nothing — while still registering and filing.
- Without the relief, 525,000 sits above the nil band and nine per cent of it is 47,250 of tax.
Push revenue to 3.1 million and the relief disappears even though the profit has not changed. That is the consequence of it being a revenue test.
What this calculator assumes
- The nil band, the rate, the relief revenue threshold and the sunset date are the current figures and are cited below. All four are editable.
- The relief requires revenue at or below the threshold in the current period and in every previous period. This tool tests the period you enter only.
- Registration and filing are required whether or not tax is payable, and whether or not the relief is claimed.
- Multinational groups above a large consolidated revenue figure are outside the relief and can face a separate minimum-tax regime. Neither is modelled here.
An estimate, not advice. This is an estimate built from what you typed, not advice on your file. Nothing here reads your documents, checks your treaty article or looks at the year you are actually in. Where the number matters, we agree a fixed fee in writing before any work starts.
Where these figures come from
- current guidance Corporate tax — UAE Ministry of Finance
- Ministerial Decision 73 of 2023 Small business relief decision — UAE Ministry of Finance
- current guidance Corporate tax — Federal Tax Authority
Any figure prefilled in the panel above is stated with the year it belongs to and can be changed. Rates and thresholds move; a calculator that asks you for the current one stays right, and one that hides a guess does not.
What these engagements turn on
Case study 1
Corporate tax applicability confirmed for a group's UAE mainland entity
A group's UAE mainland entity needed its corporate tax position reviewed once the UAE's corporate tax rules came into effect, having previously operated on the assumption of no corporate taxation. We reviewed the entity's activity against the applicable thresholds and exemptions, confirmed its registration and filing position, and set up its ongoing compliance.
Case study 2
Applicability checker distinguished a qualifying free zone entity from a mainland one
A group operating through both a free zone entity and a mainland entity needed to understand how corporate tax applicability differed between the two. We reviewed each entity's activity and structure against the applicable rules, confirmed the different treatment that applied to each, and set up compliant filings for both.
Case study 3
Small business relief eligibility confirmed for a newly established UAE entity
A newly established UAE entity with modest revenue wanted to confirm whether small business relief reduced its corporate tax applicability for its first year. We reviewed the entity's revenue against the relief conditions, confirmed eligibility, and the entity's first-year filing reflected the relief correctly.
Case study 4
A Group File That Had to Describe the Whole Group
The master file is a picture of the business rather than of one company, and it has to agree with what each local file says. Assembling it surfaces inconsistencies between entities that nobody had compared.
Read how this one runs
Case study 5
A Pricing Study That Started With Who Does What
Functions, assets and risks decide which entity should earn the return, and the method follows from that rather than the other way round. Getting the sequence backwards is how a study fails on its first question.
Read how this one runs
Case study 6
Whether Documentation Was Required At All
The obligation turns on the transactions that actually happened rather than on the size of the group, and the penalty for contemporaneous documentation is charged by reference to the adjustment. The review establishes which side of the line the company sits.
Read how this one runs
Case study 7
One Salesperson Abroad, and a Corporate Filing Obligation
A single employee with authority to conclude contracts can create a taxable presence for the whole company. The review tests what the person actually does against the treaty article, and where a presence exists, works out what profit is attributable to it.
Read how this one runs
Case study 8
A Foreign Subsidiary That Nobody Had Been Reporting
Owning a company abroad triggers an information return separate from the corporate return, with its own penalty. The work is the surplus and income computations behind it, which also determine how a future dividend is taxed on the way home.
Read how this one runsAll case studies — every published engagement in one place.
Core International & Cross-Border Tax Services
International Tax Planning & Advisory
Strategy and compliance for income, assets and families spread across borders.
One coordinating team: filings on every side of the border are sequenced so treaty relief and foreign tax credits are claimed once — and in the right country.
U.S. & Cross-Border Tax Returns
Dual filers: U.S. citizens in Canada and Canadians with U.S. income run two parallel systems — we prepare both, in the right order, every year.
Expat & Emigration Tax
The move year is its own project: the elections and valuations filed that year decide the next decade of both countries’ returns.
Non-Resident Canadian Tax
Default withholding is 25% of gross: elective returns routinely turn over-withheld rent and pensions into refunds.
Transfer Pricing & BEPS
Documentation prepared with the return is the cheapest insurance in international tax; reconstructing it during an audit is the most expensive.
Tax Treaties & Withholding
Relief is only as good as the paperwork claiming it — we build treaty positions that survive review on both sides.
Cross-Border Estates & Trusts
Wills drafted for one country routinely misfire in the other — deemed disposition here, estate tax there, credits in between.
Global Investments & Reporting
Information returns carry the sharpest penalties — $25 a day whether or not any tax is owing. We keep them clean and on time.
Cross-Border Corporate Tax
Expansion raises the same four questions every time — entity, PE, repatriation, payroll. We answer them before the tax authorities do.
India Tax for NRIs & Returning Residents
The deduction is taken on the sale price, not the gain — which is why an NRI property sale strands cash unless the certificate is applied for before closing.
Canadian Tax with a Foreign Element
Residency is decided on facts, not on a form — and the year you arrive or leave is the one where the largest amounts turn on the smallest details.
UAE Tax for Expats & Their Home Country
A zero-tax country is only half the answer — the question that decides the bill is whether the country you came from still treats you as resident.
Industries & Client Types We Serve Worldwide
Global E-commerce & Marketplaces
Technology & SaaS
Professional Services Firms
Cross-Border Real Estate
Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers
Athletes, Artists & Entertainers
Remote Workers & Digital Nomads
Investment Funds & Holding Companies
Global E-commerce & Marketplaces
Cross-border tax for sellers shipping worldwide: marketplace withholding, foreign registrations and inventory nexus handled before they become audits.
Marketplaces withhold, remit and report in their own right, so the tax position of a single sale is decided by where the stock sat, where the buyer was and which platform collected — not by where the company is registered. We reconcile the platform's own filings against the returns before either is submitted.
- Foreign VAT / GST / sales tax registrations
- Marketplace withholding reviews
- Inventory nexus & PE analysis
- Multi-currency books reconciled
Who We Serve:
Technology & SaaS
- Cross-border revenue sourcing & withholding
- IP structuring with real substance
- Equity for cross-border teams
- U.S. expansion: entity & PE setup
Who We Serve:
Professional Services Firms
- Reg 105 / 102 waivers
- Permanent establishment risk
- Partner mobility planning
- Cross-border withholding recovery
Who We Serve:
Cross-Border Real Estate
- Section 216 rental returns
- FIRPTA withholding recovery
- Section 116 clearance
- Treaty credit optimization
Who We Serve:
Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers
- Transfer pricing documentation (s.247)
- Customs value vs transfer price
- Foreign affiliate reporting (T1134)
- Country-by-country reporting
Who We Serve:
Athletes, Artists & Entertainers
- Reg 105 & U.S. CWA agreements
- Multi-state & country calendars
- Touring income allocation
- Royalty & image-rights withholding
Who We Serve:
Remote Workers & Digital Nomads
- Residency analysis before moving
- Employer payroll exposure
- Totalization & social security
- Foreign tax credits
Who We Serve:
Investment Funds & Holding Companies
- Treaty access & PPT reviews
- FAPI & surplus computations
- Withholding-efficient routing
- Governance & substance
Who We Serve:
