Accounting and bookkeeping questions, answered.

Yes. Under the Tax Procedures Law, anyone conducting business in the UAE must keep accounting records and commercial books, whether or not it is registered for VAT or corporate tax. Company law adds that every company must keep accounting records that show its financial position accurately at any time. The duty sits with each legal entity, so a group with several companies needs a complete set of books for every one of them.

Cabinet Decision No. 74 of 2023, the Executive Regulation of the Tax Procedures Law, lists books recording payments and receipts, purchases and sales, and revenue and expenditure, including the balance sheet and profit and loss account. It also names wage and salary records, fixed-asset records, inventory records and year-end stock counts showing quantities and values. Behind those sit the supporting documents: invoices, contracts, licences, correspondence and anything showing a tax election, calculation or method you have used. The FTA can also ask for any other information it needs.

Keep corporate tax records for at least seven years after the end of the tax period they relate to. VAT records relating to real estate must be kept for 15 years, and records must be kept for longer while an FTA audit, a dispute or a refund claim is open. Company law separately requires at least five years from the end of the financial year, with the records kept at the head office. Don't discard anything once five years have passed: the corporate tax period is seven years, and the FTA's audit window can be extended.

The company is. FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026, in force since 30 July 2026, allows a business to have a third party such as an outsourced bookkeeper keep its records, but the business remains legally responsible for keeping them and keeping them safe. Choose a provider whose work your finance team and auditors can see every month, and make sure you can get the records back whenever you need them.

The tax rules deal with what you submit to the FTA; they don't by their terms require your day-to-day books to be in Arabic. Returns, records and documents submitted to the FTA must be in Arabic, although the FTA may accept English and ask for an Arabic translation of some or all of it, at your cost and on your responsibility for its accuracy. Not providing records in Arabic when the FTA asks carries a penalty of AED 5,000.

Yes. Your books can be kept in another functional currency, meaning the main currency your business operates in, but every corporate tax figure must be in UAE dirhams, converted at the Central Bank of the UAE's exchange rate. VAT is stricter at invoice level: a full tax invoice must show the VAT amount in AED, and the exchange rate used if the invoice is in another currency.

Cash accounting records income and costs when money moves; accrual accounting records them when they are earned or incurred, so a December sale paid in January belongs to December. For corporate tax, the default standard is IFRS, the International Financial Reporting Standards, which work on an accrual basis, and IFRS for SMEs, a simplified version, is allowed where revenue does not exceed AED 50 million. The cash basis is allowed only where revenue does not exceed AED 3 million, or in exceptional circumstances on application to the FTA, and you still prepare financial statements.

Possibly, for more than one reason. For corporate tax, audited financial statements are required if revenue exceeds AED 50 million, for every Qualifying Free Zone Person (a free zone company taxed at 0% on its qualifying income) and for every tax group. On the mainland, company law requires every LLC and joint stock company to have its accounts audited every year, whatever its size. Many free zones also set their own audit and filing requirements, so check your licensing authority's rules.

A bank reconciliation matches every transaction in your books to your bank and card statements and explains each difference until none is left. It catches missing invoices, duplicate entries, unposted bank charges and payments posted to the wrong account. If the books don't reconcile to the bank, nothing built on them can be relied on: not the VAT return, not the management accounts and not the corporate tax figures.

We post your sales, purchase and expense invoices, reconcile every bank and credit card account, and make the journals and month-end entries, daily, weekly or monthly as agreed. Monthly reporting covers a flash report, profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow, a VAT report and schedules to the balance sheet, with management information (MIS) reports from the Mid-size package. As an FTA Registered Tax Agency (TAN 30022834), we also prepare and file your VAT and corporate tax returns, and we meet you every month to go through the numbers.

You get a dedicated contact as soon as you sign, with an engagement partner overseeing the work. We meet you monthly to review the numbers, with phone and online support in between. From the Established package upwards, you also have a dedicated accountant.

Yes. Our clients range from start-ups to large corporations, including businesses with revenue above USD 100 million. Where a group runs several mainland and free zone companies, each one needs its own books, VAT position and corporate tax filing, and we keep and report on each entity. If your finance team needs extra capacity rather than an outsourced function, we can second qualified accountants or provide temporary staff.

We work on four fixed monthly packages, Start-up, Mid-size, Established and Enterprise, each including everything in the one before. Which one fits depends on the size and stage of the company and how much reporting, compliance and support you need, and a bespoke package is available if none of them fits. You can compare them on our Pricing page, and the first consultation is free.

Yes. Every package includes free setup and implementation: we build your chart of accounts (the list of accounts every transaction is posted to), set up your accounting software and train your team on Zoho Books. We are a Zoho Advanced Partner, and we also work in Xero, QuickBooks and Tally if you already use one of them.

They go with you. If you leave, all your records and documents are handed over within 7 working days. That matters because the law keeps your company, not its bookkeeper, responsible for its records, even when a third party keeps them.

We hold client data on secured servers and protected workstations, with redundant backups, and we transfer it encrypted. Your records stay yours: the law keeps your company responsible for them even when we hold them, and if you leave, everything is handed over within 7 working days.

Yes. We start with a conversation with management about the business, gather your source documents, such as bank statements, invoices, bills, vouchers and payment slips, and rebuild the accounts from the day of incorporation if needed, in the software you already use. We resolve outstanding payables and receivables, prepare any catch-up VAT and corporate tax filings, close the accounts properly and take you through the results. How long it takes depends on how far behind you are and how quickly the documents come in.

Yes. We can second a qualified accountant to your team for one to six months, full-time or part-time, for work such as accounting, tax compliance, financial reporting or internal audit; the period can be extended by agreement or ended early, with at least one month's notice. For a peak such as the year end or an audit, a skills gap or cover for an absence, we can also provide temporary accounting staff, from one accountant to a full team, working alongside your own people.

Registration is mandatory once your supplies over the previous 12 months exceed AED 375,000, or you expect them to exceed it in the next 30 days. Apply within 30 days of becoming required to register: a late registration costs AED 10,000, and you owe VAT on your supplies from the date you should have registered. Below the mandatory threshold, you may register voluntarily once your supplies or taxable expenses exceed AED 187,500.

The return and the payment must both reach the FTA by the 28th day after the end of each tax period. The standard period is three calendar months; in practice the FTA assigns monthly periods to businesses with annual turnover of AED 150 million or more, and EmaraTax, the FTA's online portal, shows which periods are yours. A deadline that falls on a weekend moves to the next business day, but filing by the preceding business day is the safe choice.

Since 14 April 2026, under Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025, a late VAT return costs AED 1,000, or AED 2,000 for a repeat within 24 months. Unpaid VAT attracts a late-payment penalty of 14% a year, applied monthly from the day after the due date. Corporate tax has its own penalty table with different amounts, so don't assume the two match.

Three sets of rules took effect for input VAT, the VAT you pay on purchases and deduct in your return. FTA Decision No. 13 of 2026 requires you to check your suppliers, and each supply, before deducting it, and to keep a documented verification policy with evidence of the checks. FTA Decision No. 17 of 2026 sets conditions for recovering VAT on certain employee expenses, such as staff transport, work-required accommodation, phones and business parking. Cabinet Decision No. 149 of 2026 also amended the VAT Executive Regulation, including the rules on input tax, capital assets and credit notes.

Check each supplier when you first deal with it and at least every 12 months: its identity or incorporation, that it has a real place of business and any risk indicators, plus its bank account if your supplies from it exceed AED 375,000 in 12 months. For each supply, check the commercial reason for it, whether it was paid electronically, its price and whether it falls within the supplier's licensed activity. Supplies under AED 10,000 before VAT are exempt from the checks unless that supplier's total exceeds AED 100,000 in 12 months. The rules are in FTA Decision No. 13 of 2026, in force since 1 October 2026.

Corporate tax starts from the profit in your financial statements, which must be prepared under an accounting standard accepted in the UAE, usually IFRS, and is then adjusted under the tax rules. Taxable income up to AED 375,000 is taxed at 0% and the rest at 9%. For a 31 December year end, the FY2026 return and payment are due by 30 September 2027. Our sister site, corporatetax.ebs.ae, covers the tax side in depth.

No. Small Business Relief treats a business as having no taxable income where its revenue is AED 3 million or less in the tax period and in every previous one, for tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029. You still register, file a return by the nine-month deadline and keep records. Because the AED 3 million test uses revenue measured under accounting standards, you need reliable books to know whether you qualify at all.

Normally up to five years from the end of the tax period, a limit that has applied since the Tax Procedures Law took effect in 2023, not a 2026 change. An audit notified within those five years can continue but must finish within four years of the notification, and the limit is 15 years for tax evasion or failure to register. Since 1 January 2026 there are also extensions linked to refund applications. Corporate tax records must be kept for seven years, so the five-year limit is no reason to discard them.

AED 10,000 per violation, or AED 20,000 for a repeat within 24 months. The amounts are the same in the VAT and tax procedures penalty table and in the corporate tax table. Missing records also leave you unable to support the input VAT you claimed, or the figures in your returns, when the FTA asks.

Private-sector employers registered with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) pay wages through the Wage Protection System (WPS), or another system MOHRE approves. Under the Labour Law, wages are paid on their due dates under MOHRE's rules, and in UAE dirhams unless the employment contract agrees another currency. Keep the payroll records behind every payment: wage and salary records are part of the books the tax rules require.

A full-time foreign employee with at least one year of continuous service earns 21 days' basic wage for each of the first five years, and 30 days' basic wage for each year after that. Part years count pro rata once the first year is complete, days of unpaid absence are excluded, the total is capped at two years' wage, and lawful deductions may be made. It is worked out on the last basic wage, not the full salary. The gratuity calculator on this site gives an estimate on these rules.

All end-of-contract dues, including gratuity, must be paid within 14 days of the contract ending. Because gratuity is based on the last basic wage and excludes unpaid absence, keep each employee's basic wage, start date and unpaid leave up to date in your payroll records, so the final settlement can be worked out quickly and correctly.

Yes. Under accrual accounting, gratuity is earned as employees work, so the amount built up so far is a liability your accounts should carry as a provision, updated at least at each year end, rather than an expense recorded only when someone leaves. Leaving it out overstates profit and moves the whole cost into the year people resign.

No. UAE nationals receive end-of-service benefits under the pensions legislation instead of the Labour Law's gratuity formula. Separately, MOHRE set a minimum wage of AED 6,000 a month for UAE nationals in the private sector from 1 January 2026, applying to new, renewed or amended work permits, with existing contracts due to be adjusted by 30 June 2026.

Only where the conditions in FTA Decision No. 17 of 2026, in force since 1 October 2026, are met. The decision covers staff transport, food in remote locations, accommodation the work requires, 30 days' accommodation for new joiners, phones and data, and business parking; for phones and data, the conditions include a documented policy and monitoring. Post these costs to their own accounts, with the supporting documents, so the VAT on each can be justified.

Each month we check with you for changes to salaries, deductions or additions, prepare and run the payroll, process the salary payments, issue payslips and share a record of the month's salary transfers. The service covers Wage Protection System (WPS) compliance and gratuity and end-of-service calculations. If you prefer to run payroll in-house, we can set up Zoho Payroll, which produces WPS salary files.

E-invoicing means issuing invoices as structured data that pass from your Accredited Service Provider (ASP) to your customer's ASP over the Peppol network, using the UAE's PINT AE data standard, with the tax data reported to the FTA. It applies to any person conducting business in the UAE, for its business transactions, whether or not it is VAT-registered, and both the issuer and the recipient need an ASP. Business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions are out of scope until a ministerial decision says otherwise, and a few other transaction types are excluded.

It depends on your revenue, meaning gross income for your most recent accounting period as shown in your financial statements. At AED 50 million or more, you must appoint an Accredited Service Provider (ASP) by 30 October 2026 and go live on 1 January 2027. Below AED 50 million, appoint by 31 March 2027 and go live on 1 July 2027; government entities appoint by 31 March 2027 and go live on 1 October 2027. Voluntary adoption has been open since 1 July 2026.

Cabinet Decision No. 106 of 2025 sets them. Failing to implement e-invoicing, including not appointing an Accredited Service Provider (ASP) on time, costs AED 5,000 for each month or part month. Each e-invoice or e-credit note not issued or sent on time costs AED 100, capped at AED 5,000 a calendar month. Not telling the FTA about a system failure within 2 business days, or your ASP about changes to your registered data within 5 business days, costs AED 1,000 a day; businesses that adopt voluntarily are not fined before their mandatory date.

Start by cleaning up your customer and supplier records and checking whether your accounting or ERP (enterprise resource planning) system can produce structured invoices. Then appoint an Accredited Service Provider (ASP) before your deadline: you need one to receive e-invoices as well as to send them, and e-invoice data must be stored in the UAE. We review your systems, list the gaps, help you connect to an ASP, check that invoices are structured and reported the way the FTA expects, and train your team before your go-live date.

Choose for how the company works: transaction volume, the number of entities, bank accounts and currencies, and what the system must connect to, such as your point-of-sale system, payment gateway or online shop. We are a Zoho Advanced Partner and have set up the Zoho Finance suite for more than 250 businesses, and we also work in Xero, QuickBooks and Tally. Setup, including your chart of accounts and Zoho Books training, is included in every package.

A chart of accounts is the list of categories every transaction is posted to: each type of income, cost, asset, liability and equity. Set up well, it lets the VAT return, the management accounts and the corporate tax adjustments come straight out of the books; entertainment kept in its own account, for example, makes the rule that only 50% of it is deductible easy to apply. Building it is part of the free setup in every ebs package.

Yes, if the copies are identical to the originals, readable, and available for the whole retention period. Since 30 July 2026, FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 has made the standard explicit: copies must be complete, with every page in its original order, so a photo of a contract's first page is not enough. If the FTA asks, you must also give it access to the system holding the records, including any passwords or encryption keys.

Usually, yes. Cloud accounting systems can take bank feeds, so transactions arrive automatically for matching, and many connect to point-of-sale (POS), payment and online-shop systems. In one published ebs case study, a Dubai restaurant group moved from cash-basis books to IFRS accrual accounting, split its revenue by dine-in, delivery and catering, and connected its POS and bank feeds to cloud accounting. The case study reports a 37% cost reduction between 2023 and 2024.