E-commerce · 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
Free-zone status is not an exemption from filing
A Dubai trading company assumed free-zone status removed its corporate tax obligations. It removes the rate on qualifying income, not the filing.
Dubai free-zone trading company, 2,400 transactions/month. Client identity withheld — we publish names only with written permission, so this engagement is described by its shape rather than by who it was.
9 months
Filing deadline after period end
7 years
Record retention required
Ready
Position at first filing
The situation
- The company operated from a free zone and had treated corporate tax as not applying.
- Bookkeeping was maintained to a standard adequate for VAT but not for a corporate tax return.
What we found
- Records were not maintained to the standard required for a corporate tax filing, nor for the seven-year retention requirement.
- Qualifying and non-qualifying income were not separated, which is the distinction the free-zone rate depends on.
- Related-party transactions with the parent were undocumented.
What we did
- Separated qualifying from non-qualifying income in the chart of accounts.
- Rebuilt the record-keeping to the standard required for the corporate tax return and the retention period.
- Documented related-party transactions and the basis for their pricing.
The outcome
- The company filed on time within nine months of period end, with the qualifying income position documented rather than asserted.
- VAT and corporate tax now come from the same reconciled ledger.
What we'd flag
Free-zone status still needs to be substantiated with records. The rate benefit is conditional, and the condition has to be evidenced.
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