The corporate tax registration itself takes about twenty minutes on EmaraTax. Gathering the documents takes most people a week, because two of them are rarely where anyone expects them to be. This is the list, what each one has to show, and the three rejections we see most often.
The document list
Everything is uploaded through EmaraTax as PDF, with each file under 15MB. Scans must be legible and in date — an expired licence is an automatic rejection, not a query.
If you are a company
| Document | What it has to show |
|---|---|
| Trade licence | Current and valid. Not the application, not last year’s. If renewal is in progress, finish it first. |
| Certificate of incorporation or commercial registration | Issued by your licensing authority. Free zone companies usually hold this separately from the licence. |
| Memorandum and Articles of Association | Including any amendments. If shareholding has changed since incorporation, the amended MOA is the one that matters. |
| Emirates ID of each shareholder above 25% | Both sides, in date. |
| Passport of each shareholder above 25% | Photo page, in date. |
| Proof of authorisation for the signatory | Power of attorney, board resolution or the MOA clause that names them. This is the one most often missing. |
| Ownership structure chart or shareholding certificate | Needed where ownership runs through holding companies rather than individuals. |
If you are a natural person
Sole establishments, freelancers and individuals trading under a permit register as natural persons, and only once turnover from business activity exceeds AED 1 million in a calendar year. Below that there is no registration obligation at all. See corporate tax for natural persons for where that line sits.
- Trade licence or freelance permit, current
- Emirates ID of the licence holder
- Passport of the licence holder
- Evidence of the business activity and revenue, sufficient to show whether the AED 1 million threshold was crossed and when
The two documents nobody has ready
Proof of authorisation. EmaraTax wants evidence that the person submitting the registration is entitled to bind the company. In practice that is a power of attorney, a board resolution, or a clause in the MOA naming the manager. Plenty of companies have none of the three in a form that satisfies the portal, because nobody needed one until now. If you are getting this prepared, get it notarised — it will be wanted again.
The amended MOA. Companies hand over the original MOA from incorporation and forget that shareholding changed two years ago. The FTA is matching shareholders to Emirates IDs. If the document says one thing and the IDs say another, it comes back.
When you have to register
Registration deadlines are set by Ministerial Decision and depend on when your licence was issued, not on your financial year. The practical position:
- Companies incorporated after corporate tax began generally have three months from the date of incorporation or licence issue.
- Natural persons who cross AED 1 million in a calendar year must register by 31 March of the following year.
- Registration is separate from filing. Getting your tax registration number does not extend the return deadline, which runs nine months from your financial year end.
Late registration carries an administrative penalty of AED 10,000. It is applied per registrant, it is not discretionary, and it applies whether or not you had any taxable income.
That last point catches dormant companies in particular. A company with no revenue, no activity and no tax to pay still has to register, and still gets the AED 10,000 if it does not. See the corporate tax registration penalty for what happens next and whether it can be challenged.
Three rejections we see repeatedly
- Licence expired between gathering and submitting. If your renewal falls within the next few weeks, renew first. The portal checks validity at submission, not at upload.
- Shareholder list does not reconcile. Every holder above 25% needs ID and passport, and the ownership documents must agree with them. Where a corporate shareholder sits in the chain, the structure chart is what resolves it.
- Wrong entity type selected. A sole establishment is a natural person. A one-person LLC is a juridical person. Choosing the wrong one at the start means unwinding the registration rather than editing it.
What happens after you register
You receive a corporate tax registration number, which is distinct from your VAT TRN even though both live in EmaraTax — see TRN number UAE if that distinction is not yet clear.
Then three things become live obligations:
- A return for your first tax period, due nine months after the period ends
- Financial statements prepared on an accrual basis under IFRS, or IFRS for SMEs where revenue permits
- Record retention, and the ability to produce those records if the FTA asks — see record retention requirements
If you are registering late, register anyway and register now. The penalty is fixed; it does not compound, and it does not get smaller by waiting.
Frequently asked questions
A valid trade licence, the certificate of incorporation or commercial registration, the Memorandum and Articles of Association including amendments, Emirates ID and passport for every shareholder holding more than 25%, proof that the signatory is authorised, and an ownership structure chart where corporate shareholders sit in the chain. Natural persons need the licence or freelance permit, their own Emirates ID and passport, and evidence of business revenue.
Yes. Registration is an obligation of being a taxable person, not of having taxable income. A company with no activity still registers, still files, and is still exposed to the AED 10,000 penalty if it does not register on time.
An administrative penalty of AED 10,000. It is a fixed amount applied per registrant rather than a daily accrual, so it does not grow while you delay — but it also does not reduce. If you are already late, registering immediately stops any further exposure.
No. They are separate registrations producing separate numbers, even though both are managed inside the same EmaraTax account. Quoting the VAT TRN on a corporate tax submission, or the reverse, is a common and avoidable error.
Yes, but the portal requires evidence that whoever submits is authorised to act for the company — a power of attorney, a board resolution, or an MOA clause naming them. Appointing a registered tax agent formalises this; see our page on what a registered tax agent can do.
PDF, with each file under 15MB. Scans must be legible and documents must be in date at the moment of submission, not at the moment of upload. A licence that expires between the two gets the application rejected.