- The first UAE company obligation after the trade licence is corporate tax registration with the Federal Tax Authority, mandatory even if the company never pays any tax.
- Missing the corporate tax registration deadline carries a fixed AED 10,000 penalty, owed even when no tax is due.
- VAT applies once taxable turnover crosses AED 375,000 over 12 months, alongside bookkeeping, UBO records and annual licence renewal.
Why duties start at issue
The licence is what your setup fee buys, so for many firms the relationship ends the day it is issued. The company you now own carries on. It has standing duties to the tax and licensing authorities, and several of them carry fixed deadlines and penalties.
Company obligations after the trade licence
Not every duty applies to every company, because each one starts from a different trigger.
Corporate tax registration and filing
Registration with the Federal Tax Authority, then an annual return, for every company, even at zero tax or under Small Business Relief.
VAT, once you pass the registration threshold
Mandatory once taxable turnover crosses AED 375,000, which makes turnover the trigger.
Bookkeeping to an FTA standard
Each filing is only as accurate as the records beneath it.
UBO records kept current
Records of who ultimately owns or controls the company, kept current as ownership changes. See the UBO register in the UAE.
Trade licence renewal, every year
An unrenewed licence attracts penalties and blocks banking and visa renewals. See what happens if you do not renew your trade licence.
ESR is not on the list. Economic Substance Regulations were discontinued for financial years ending after 31 December 2022, so today they mean legacy reviews where applicable.
The corporate tax registration penalty
A company that will pay no tax can still be fined for missing a registration it did not know was due, usually because nobody mentioned it at setup.
AED 10,000
Fixed penalty for late corporate tax registration, owed even when the company owes no tax.
It rarely arrives alone. Late returns, late payment and books rebuilt at year-end each add their own cost, and a year of ignored obligations becomes a clean-up.
We treat the licence as the start of the engagement
We map exactly which obligations apply to you before you commit. Then we hold every deadline on a calendar and keep the books current, so filing is routine.
The bookkeeping and corporate tax and VAT pages show how we keep companies compliant. The overview of UAE company compliance requirements places these obligations side by side.