How to file a corporate tax return on EmaraTax, from closed books to payment

Reconcile every bank, card and wallet account to the year-end date. Post supplier bills and customer invoices that belong to the year, accrue costs incurred but not billed, and count stock if you hold any. Review receivables for debts that will not be collected.

Then produce the financial statements: profit and loss, balance sheet, and notes. If you are required to have audited statements, for example as a qualifying free zone person or because revenue exceeds AED 50 million, book the auditor early. Audits in the UAE cluster between February and June for December year ends.

Take accounting profit and apply the adjustments: half of client entertainment added back, fines and non-qualifying donations added back, exempt dividends removed, connected person payments tested against market value, and losses brought forward applied within the 75% cap.

Worked example: a Dubai printing company with a 31 December 2026 year end shows profit of AED 610,000. Add back AED 14,000 of entertainment and AED 6,000 of fines. Taxable income is AED 630,000, and tax at 9% on AED 255,000 is AED 22,950. The return and payment are due by 30 September 2027.

Some choices are made in the return. The most common for SMEs is small business relief, available where revenue has been AED 3 million or less in the current and every earlier tax period. Others include reliefs for transfers within a qualifying group and business restructuring.

Decide these before you open the form. Electing small business relief in a loss year, for instance, forfeits the loss. That is a decision for the owner and tax agent, not something to settle by clicking through a screen at 11pm on the deadline day.

Log in to EmaraTax with the account linked to the registered taxable person, select corporate tax, and open the return for the relevant tax period. The return asks for figures from the financial statements, the adjustments that lead to taxable income, any elections and reliefs, and information on transactions with related parties and connected persons.

Enter figures that tie to your statements and computation. Keep a copy of every screen or the submitted return. If you are a tax agent filing for a client, make sure the client has approved the final figures in writing before you submit.

• Trade licence and TRN details
• Final financial statements, audited where required
• Computation with each adjustment explained
• Related party and connected person transaction list
• Elections decided in advance and documented

Payment is due by the same nine-month deadline as filing. Pay through the methods EmaraTax offers and keep the payment confirmation. Late payment attracts a monthly penalty of 14% per annum on the unpaid amount under Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023, so filing on time but paying late still costs money.

After submission, store the return, computation, statements and supporting documents together. Article 56 requires records to be kept for seven years after the end of the tax period.

HelloBooks covers stages one and two. The AI agent reconciles uploaded bank statements, posts bills and invoices, and flags missing year-end items like unbilled work or unpaid bills. It then produces the profit and loss, balance sheet and a draft 9% computation with add-backs drawn from the accounts you posted to during the year.

Stages three to five belong to people. You or your accountant decide the elections, enter the figures in EmaraTax and make the payment. HelloBooks never logs in to EmaraTax or submits anything for you. Firms that want the computation exported in the same order as the EmaraTax screens can request that layout at hello@hellobooks.ai.