UAE BUSINESS TAX PLANNING
UAE Corporate Tax Calculator
See how accounting profit, tax adjustments and eligible losses translate into an estimated standard corporate tax charge.
Independent general information from NUM8ERS. Not FTA approved, tax advice or a filing service. Special tax regimes require a separate assessment.
Calculate your estimate ↓Estimate standard UAE corporate tax
Maintained by NUM8ERS · source check: 26 October 2026. No external tax-professional review or government endorsement is claimed. Use this as a planning calculation and confirm your tax position before filing.
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1. Standard UAE corporate tax rates
For ordinary Taxable Persons, the standard rate is 0% on taxable income up to and including AED 375,000 and 9% on the excess. Crossing the threshold does not make all income taxable at 9%. The threshold concerns taxable income, not sales or accounting profit alone. Cabinet Decision 116 of 2022 · FTA rate explanation.
| Taxable income in the period | Standard calculation |
|---|---|
| No positive taxable income | No standard tax charge in this model; no refund is calculated. |
| Up to and including AED 375,000 | 0%. |
| Above AED 375,000 | 9% applies only to the amount above AED 375,000. |
This is not a universal exemption or a registration test. QFZPs use a different income classification; minimum top-up tax and other special provisions can change a business’s wider exposure.
2. Formula and worked examples
Let be accounting profit or loss before tax, the signed adjustments before brought-forward loss relief, and the resulting income before that relief. Let be verified eligible losses available, the loss used, taxable income and standard tax before credits. Amounts are in AED.
The model first reconciles profit and adjustments, then applies eligible loss relief, then the rate bands. It does not round taxable income to a whole dirham or imply a filing convention.
Example A: zero accounting profit, positive adjustments
Accounting profit is zero, adjustments are AED 500,000 and no brought-forward losses are entered. Taxable income is AED 500,000. Zero accounting profit is accepted.
Standard tax estimate: AED 11,250.00.
Example B: profit with an add-back
Profit AED 800,000 plus net adjustments AED 50,000 gives AED 850,000 before loss relief. With no losses, the 9% band contains AED 475,000 and tax is AED 42,750.00.
Example C: loss limit before rate bands
Positive adjusted income is AED 2,000,000 and verified eligible losses available are AED 2,000,000. The 75% limit permits AED 1,500,000 of loss relief. Taxable income is AED 500,000; standard tax is AED 11,250.00. The unused entered loss is AED 500,000, subject to continuing eligibility.
Effective rate versus marginal rate
This percentage is shown only for positive taxable income. For AED 1,000,000 taxable income, standard tax is AED 56,250.00 and the effective rate is 5.625%. The marginal rate on the excess remains 9%.
3. How to use the calculator
- Choose the applicable tax scenario. Use the standard option only where that regime applies and no special relief election is being modelled.
- Check the actual tax-period dates.
- Enter accounting profit or loss before tax in AED. Enter zero explicitly where appropriate.
- Enter the signed net adjustments supported by your reconciliation. Do not include the same loss twice.
- If applicable, open the loss section, enter verified eligible brought-forward losses and confirm the eligibility statement.
- Calculate, inspect each band and download the CSV for your records or adviser.
Changing any input hides the previous result and disables download until recalculation. The CSV records the period, inputs, bands and limitations. No tax return is filed by this page.
4. Adjustments, loss relief and calculation limits
Accounting and tax treatment can differ. Review exempt income, non-deductible expenditure, interest limitations, related-party pricing and applicable elections against the actual facts. A book expense is not automatically deductible, and a payment described as a fine, dividend or capital item should not be assigned a universal treatment by its label alone.
For entered brought-forward losses, the ordinary offset is capped at 75% of positive taxable income before loss relief. Eligibility, pre-regime exclusions and ownership or business-continuity requirements still matter. The calculator handles an entered available balance, not transfers, tax-group consolidation or the legal creation of a future loss. FTA income guide, sections 3 and 4.8.
The remaining income can still fall within the 0% band. A 75% offset limit therefore does not mean every profitable business must pay tax on at least 25% of accounting profit.
The output is standard tax before credits. Foreign and withholding credits, special reliefs, penalties and DMTT are excluded. No deferred tax, audited provision, final settlement or after-tax distributable profit is determined. All numeric inputs must be in AED, with no more than two decimal places; each input supports an absolute amount up to AED 1 trillion.
5. Free-zone companies: no automatic zero
A Free Zone Person is not automatically a Qualifying Free Zone Person. A QFZP is subject to 0% on qualifying income and 9% on taxable income that is not qualifying income. The ordinary AED 375,000 0% band does not apply to a QFZP’s non-qualifying taxable income. For example, AED 100,000 of such taxable income has a 9% charge of AED 9,000 before other applicable rules.
Eligibility, adequate substance, income classification, de minimis conditions and the applicable activity rules must be assessed together. This page therefore does not compute a QFZP result. Choosing that scenario returns a separate-assessment message. FTA Free Zone Persons guide, section 5.
Cabinet Decision 100 of 2023 concerns determining qualifying income for a Qualifying Free Zone Person. Activity guidance must also account for Ministerial Decision 229 of 2025, which replaced Ministerial Decision 265 of 2023. A non-QFZP may be subject to the standard regime, but loss of qualifying status and its consequences need review.
6. Small Business Relief: conditions and the 2029 extension
Small Business Relief is an election, not the ordinary AED 375,000 band. Its revenue ceiling is AED 3 million in the relevant and every previous applicable tax period. A lower current-period figure does not undo a prior-period breach. The person must be resident for corporate-tax purposes; QFZPs and specified multinational-group members are excluded. An election and supporting records are required. Artificial fragmentation to obtain relief can be challenged. FTA Small Business Relief guide.
Current date rule: Ministerial Decision 131 of 2026 amended the earlier provision. The threshold applies to periods commencing on or after 1 June 2023 and subsequent periods ending on or before 31 December 2029. The 2023 guide’s original 2026 end date must be read with this amendment. Read the one-page 2026 amendment · MoF announcement of 7 August 2026.
This calculator does not determine eligibility, make the election or assign a zero liability. If you are considering relief, have residence, current and prior revenue, group status, the tax period and loss consequences assessed before filing.
7. Individuals, minimum top-up tax and other cases
Natural persons
The AED 1 million business-turnover test for natural persons is distinct from the AED 375,000 taxable-income band. Wages and qualifying personal investment or real-estate investment income are outside that turnover test. Establish whether the individual is in scope before using a profit-based estimate. FTA natural-person guide.
Multinational groups
UAE DMTT applies for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2025 to in-scope MNE constituent entities. The group-revenue criterion is EUR 750 million or more in at least two of the four preceding financial years. It is not a flat 15% charge on every UAE company’s accounting profit. MoF top-up tax rules.
Exempt-person status, extractive businesses, investment funds, partnerships, tax groups, foreign establishments, restructuring, foreign-source income and special transitional cases need their own rules. An outside-scope response here is not a decision that no tax or compliance obligation exists.
8. Using an estimate responsibly
Use the standard estimate for an initial tax reserve, a change in verified profit assumptions, or a discussion with your accountant. Reconcile it to the actual records before relying on it. It does not assess free-zone eligibility, choose a business structure or optimise related-party pricing.
Filing and payment generally fall within nine months after the tax period ends, subject to applicable FTA directions. A nil tax charge or relief election does not itself remove filing duties. Confirm the applicable dates in EmaraTax rather than treating this calculator as a deadline service. FTA filing and payment reminder, September 2026.
Keep financial statements and evidence supporting revenue, adjustments, losses and elections. The FTA states that relevant records generally must be retained for at least seven years after the relevant period. FTA record-keeping reminder.
The calculator’s own script calculates in your browser and does not submit these fields to a tax authority. The website also runs third-party services under its site policies; no blanket guarantee about every script on the site is made. Avoid entering identifiers or confidential business names: the calculator does not need them.
9. Frequently asked questions
Is this calculator approved by the FTA?
No. It is an independent NUM8ERS planning tool based on the linked official materials. No FTA approval, tax-agent status or professional certification is claimed.
Is 9% charged on all profit once I pass AED 375,000?
For the supported standard regime, 9% applies only to taxable income above AED 375,000. The first band remains at 0%. QFZPs follow different rules and are not calculated here.
Can I enter zero accounting profit?
Yes. Zero profit with AED 500,000 of net positive adjustments and no loss relief produces AED 500,000 taxable income and AED 11,250.00 standard tax before credits.
Can I enter an accounting loss?
Yes. A negative accounting result is accepted and the adjustments are applied first. A loss can become positive taxable income after add-backs. A remaining loss does not produce a tax refund or establish future loss eligibility here.
Should I enter sales revenue or net profit?
Enter accounting profit or loss before tax, then the supported tax reconciliation. Revenue thresholds for relief and the natural-person turnover test are different concepts.
Why is there no free-zone zero-tax option?
Free-zone incorporation alone does not establish qualifying status or classify income. QFZP treatment can include tax on non-qualifying taxable income, without the ordinary 0% band. That scenario needs a separate assessment.
Does Small Business Relief still end in 2026?
Ministerial Decision 131 of 2026 extended the relevant ending date to 31 December 2029. All other applicable conditions, including revenue history, exclusions and a valid election, still require assessment.
How are brought-forward losses handled?
Enter only verified eligible losses in the separate loss field. The model offsets the lower of that balance and 75% of positive income before loss relief. It does not decide ownership conditions or tax-group transfers.
Can I deduct the same loss in adjustments and the loss field?
No. Double counting would understate taxable income. Keep the net-adjustment field before the brought-forward loss relief that is entered separately.
Does a zero estimate mean I do not need to file?
No. Tax amount, registration and filing are separate questions. Review the relevant obligations and deadlines through the FTA and EmaraTax.
Does the result include tax credits or minimum top-up tax?
No. The output is standard corporate tax before tax credits, special regimes, DMTT and penalties. It is not a final tax-return liability.
Can I download the calculation?
Yes. Calculate first, then download the CSV. It contains the period, reconciliation, loss offset, rate bands and exclusions. Any input change requires recalculation before download.
Who checked the guidance?
NUM8ERS checked the cited official sources on 26 October 2026. No named external tax reviewer or professional sign-off is claimed. A qualified UAE tax adviser should assess a filing or a complex case.
Sources, review and changes
Maintainer: NUM8ERS · source review: 26 October 2026. Sources are official UAE materials. This page is not a legal opinion or a tax-professional review; official Arabic legislation prevails where applicable. Older guides should be read with later amendments.
- Federal Decree-Law 47 of 2022: Taxation of Corporations and Businesses
- Cabinet Decision 116 of 2022: annual income threshold
- FTA: Determination of Taxable Income, July 2024
- FTA: Free Zone Persons, May 2024
- Cabinet Decision 100 of 2023: qualifying income
- MoF: Ministerial Decision 229 of 2025 activity update
- FTA: Small Business Relief, August 2023; read with the 2026 amendment
- Ministerial Decision 131 of 2026: Small Business Relief date amendment
- MoF: UAE Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax
- FTA: Taxation of Natural Persons
- FTA: September 2026 filing and payment reminder
- FTA: corporate tax guides and references
What changed on 26 October 2026?
Removed unsupported approval wording and automatic zero-tax relief modes; accepted zero or negative accounting profit; separated loss relief and standard rate bands; corrected the decision references; added the 2029 relief extension, clear scope, native mathematical notation and a downloadable reconciliation.