Dubai, 29 May 2025: As part of its continuing campaign to raise awareness of corporate tax among business sectors and taxpayers, the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) held a workshop in Dubai today on ‘Rules for Determining Income Subject to Corporate Tax’.

This new workshop comes as part of FTA's efforts to inform and educate eligible taxpayers of their obligations and payment procedures, as well as to encourage an environment of voluntarily compliance with the corporate tax law, which came into effect two years ago, 

The FTA also announced that six more, in-person workshops are planned for the remainder of 2025, as the Authority’s nationwide campaign gathers pace and is set to include a large number of events and workshops – via remote videoconferencing or in-person formats – in all seven of emirates that make up the UAE.

The FTA further emphasised that the campaign is designed to address various tax topics, so as to disseminate knowledge of relevant legislation, requirements and procedures for a thorough understanding of corporate tax compliance. 

To date, the campaign has utilised tailored and targeted programmes to meet the needs of each of the key groups concerned. This ensures that taxpayers have straightforward access to all the relevant and necessary information. Additionally, the campaign seeks to support and encourage the business community to implement the corporate tax law efficiently and accurately.

Today’s workshop, held in Dubai, had a strong turnout and active participation from the attendees with approximately 940 representatives of businesses, several government entities and stakeholders present. As hosts of this in-person event, FTA representatives provided a comprehensive explanation of the general principles of corporate tax and the importance of voluntary compliance with tax legislation.

Within the framework of the campaign, started in phases from 2024, the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has regularly issued advisories to unregistered corporate taxpayers to expedite the submission of their corporate tax registration applications. Most recently, this includes an update to take advantage of the UAE Cabinet Decision to waive the administrative penalties resulting from the late submission of registration applications, within the specified legal period.

Using the platform of the workshop, the FTA again took to opportunity to call on corporate taxpayers (or exempt persons required to register) who have registered for tax to benefit from the initiative to submit their tax returns (or annual declarations) within a period not exceeding seven months from the end of the registrant's first tax period. This is the stipulated period in order to qualify for the exemption from the penalty, in accordance with the Cabinet Decision.

FTA representatives again clarified that to benefit from the exemption, taxpayers must file the tax return (or annual declaration) within a period not exceeding seven months from the end of the tax period. However, this only applies to the legal or natural person’s first tax period (or the exempted person required to register), regardless of whether the due date of the first tax return (or the first annual declaration) is before or after the implementation of the new decision.

Today’s workshop agenda covered a range of topics including how to determine income subject to corporate tax, as well as considerations that must be undertaken in the determination and calculation of tax due, the accounting standards applied for corporate tax purposes, the financial statements determined in accordance with the accounting standards applied by the taxpayer, and the basis of accounting accrual under which the taxpayer recognises income when it is earned and expenses when they are incurred. 

Other elements to be taken into account include the definition of financial assets and financial liabilities, the method of accounting for equity as defined in IFRS, the method of accounting in accordance with the accounting standards applied by the taxpayer, and the cost method of accounting.

Information was also provided in relation to explaining the Corporate Tax Law and its associated decisions, requirements for compliance with the law, registration procedures through EmaraTax's digital tax services platform, the criteria for determining taxable persons, applicable rates and tax periods, and the mechanism for applying the provisions of the Corporate Tax Law.

The FTA continues to invite those subject to corporate tax to familiarise themselves with the Corporate Tax Law, executive decisions and guides related to the law through the Authority's website, by following the link: https://tax.gov.ae/en/default.aspx