Incorrect Corporate Tax Return UAE: Penalties and How to Fix It

Submitting an incorrect UAE corporate tax return costs AED 500 unless you fix it before the deadline; later fixes add 1% a month of the tax difference.

2 November 2026Qawi8 min read

Key takeaways

An incorrect UAE corporate tax return carries an administrative penalty of AED 500, unless the company corrects the return before the filing deadline (Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023, checked 02 November 2026).
A UAE corporate tax return is due no later than nine months after the end of the tax period, so a company has that whole window to fix a mistake before the AED 500 penalty applies (Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, Article 53).
Correcting a UAE corporate tax return after the deadline generally means filing a voluntary disclosure, and the penalty is 1% of the tax difference for each month or part of a month until the disclosure is filed.
If the FTA notifies a company of a tax audit before it files a voluntary disclosure, Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023 adds a fixed penalty of 15% of the tax difference on top of the 1% monthly penalty.
Extra tax that comes out of a voluntary disclosure must be paid within 20 business days of submission; after that, a penalty of 14% a year, charged monthly, runs on the unpaid amount.

What is the penalty for submitting an incorrect corporate tax return in the UAE?

The penalty is a flat AED 500, and it falls away if the company corrects its return before the filing deadline expires. The rule sits in item 9 of the penalty table in Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023, which the Ministry of Finance publishes with its amendments.

The AED 500 is only the first layer. Once the deadline has passed, the cost depends on the tax difference, meaning the gap between the tax you reported and the tax you owed. The table below sets out each penalty that can attach to a wrong return, as of 02 November 2026.

Situation	Penalty	Source
Incorrect return, not corrected before the filing deadline	AED 500	Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023, item 9
Voluntary disclosure filed before the FTA notifies a tax audit	1% of the tax difference for each month or part of a month, from the day after the due date until the disclosure is filed	Item 10
No voluntary disclosure before the FTA notifies a tax audit	Fixed 15% of the tax difference, plus 1% a month (or part)	Item 11
Additional tax left unpaid	14% a year, charged for each month or part of a month	Item 8
Failure to keep required records	AED 10,000 per violation; AED 20,000 for a repeat within 24 months	Item 1

AED 500: flat penalty for an incorrect corporate tax return, waived if the return is corrected before the filing deadline. Source: Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023, item 9, checked 02 November 2026.

How long do I have to correct a corporate tax return before the penalty applies?

You have until the filing deadline: nine months from the end of the tax period. Article 53 of Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 sets that deadline, and the FTA repeated it in a September 2025 reminder, adding that payment is due in the same window.

Say a company's tax period ends on 31 December 2026. Its return and payment would be due by 30 September 2027, so an error spotted and fixed in August 2027 costs nothing under item 9, while the same error fixed in October 2027 triggers the AED 500 and, if it changed the tax due, the voluntary disclosure penalties as well.

Because the deadline is also the cut-off for the waiver, finance teams that file early lose nothing but should keep a review step before submission. If you'd rather not track these dates by hand, the free UAE compliance calendar lists them for your company: a free calendar of your company's UAE tax and compliance deadlines, personalised from a few questions, as a PDF and calendar file.

What happens if I find the error after the filing deadline?

The company must file a voluntary disclosure if the error means it paid too little tax. Article 10(1) of the Tax Procedures Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 28 of 2022) says a taxable person who finds that a return understates the payable tax shall submit one; where the error leaves the tax due unchanged, Article 10(5) requires the return to be corrected by disclosure, subject to the 2026 change described below. Where the company overpaid, filing is optional.

Say a SHAMS trading company's return understated its corporate tax by AED 100,000, and it files a voluntary disclosure six months after the due date, before any audit notice. This is a hypothetical, but the arithmetic follows item 10: 1% of AED 100,000 for each of six months is AED 6,000, plus the AED 500 for the incorrect return, with the AED 100,000 itself payable within 20 business days of submission. Had the FTA notified an audit first, item 11 would add a fixed AED 15,000.

How do I correct a corporate tax return step by step?

The route depends on whether the filing deadline has passed and whether the error changes the tax due. These steps follow Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023 and the Tax Procedures Law.

Pull the working papers behind the return and quantify the error's effect on taxable income and corporate tax payable.
Compare today's date with the nine-month filing deadline for that tax period.
If the deadline has not passed, correct the return in your EmaraTax account; the AED 500 penalty does not apply to a return corrected in time.
If the deadline has passed and the company underpaid, prepare a voluntary disclosure under Article 10 of the Tax Procedures Law and submit it through EmaraTax before the FTA notifies any audit.
Pay the additional tax within 20 business days of submitting the disclosure, because the 14% annual penalty starts the day after that date.
File the working papers and the FTA acknowledgement with your corporate tax records, which must be kept for seven years under Article 56 of the Corporate Tax Law.

What changed in 2026 for correcting corporate tax errors?

Two changes took effect in 2026, and both touch voluntary disclosure. Federal Decree-Law No. 17 of 2025 amended the Tax Procedures Law from 1 January 2026, and amendments to its Executive Regulation (Cabinet Decision No. 74 of 2023) took effect on 1 April 2026, which the Ministry of Finance says clarify and align the voluntary disclosure procedures with the updated law.

Law-firm summaries of the January 2026 amendment say that nil-impact and minor errors can now be corrected directly on the relevant tax return instead of through a voluntary disclosure. The FTA decides which cases still need a disclosure, so check its current guidance for the definition of a minor error before you rely on that route for a corporate tax return. The Ministry of Finance's penalty table for corporate tax has not been changed by the 2025 penalty reform, which restructured VAT and excise penalties from 14 April 2026.

What most guides don't tell you

The AED 500 is the smallest number in the picture. The cost that scales with the problem is the 1% monthly penalty on the tax difference, and "or part thereof" means one day past a month boundary counts as a full extra month. File the disclosure before the month turns.

The penalties are listed as separate violations, and Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023 doesn't say that one replaces another. Reading the table as written, a company that files a wrong return and discloses late should budget for the AED 500, the monthly 1% and, if payment slips, the 14% as well; confirm the position with the FTA or a tax agent on your facts.

Responsibility for accuracy stays with the company. Article 8(3) of the Tax Procedures Law makes the taxable person responsible for the accuracy of the data in its return, so an error by an outsourced preparer is still your penalty, and the record-keeping penalty of AED 10,000 per violation applies if you can't produce the records that prove what the correct figure was.

Which corporate tax deadlines apply to your company?

Your filing and payment deadline depends on your tax period, and that date decides whether an error costs AED 500 or considerably more. The free UAE compliance calendar lists the deadlines for your company, personalised from a few questions.

Frequently asked questions

What are the penalties for not filing a corporate tax return?

Filing late costs AED 500 for each month or part of a month in the first 12 months, then AED 1,000 for each month or part of a month from the 13th month (Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023). That penalty is separate from the AED 500 for an incorrect return.

How do I pay my corporate tax in the UAE?

The FTA says the corporate tax return and the payment are both due within nine months of the end of the tax period. Check the FTA's current payment guidance in your EmaraTax account for the payment methods it accepts.

Can I amend a corporate tax return after filing?

Yes, in one of two ways: correct the return before the filing deadline to avoid the AED 500 penalty, or file a voluntary disclosure afterwards if the error changes the tax due. Law-firm summaries of the Tax Procedures Law amendments effective 1 January 2026 say minor and nil-impact errors can be fixed directly on a return, so confirm the FTA's definition of minor before relying on that.

What is a voluntary disclosure for corporate tax?

A voluntary disclosure is the filing a taxable person must make under Article 10 of the Tax Procedures Law after finding that a filed return understated the payable tax. Filing before the FTA notifies a tax audit keeps the penalty at 1% of the tax difference per month, without the extra fixed 15%.

About Qawi · Qawi is a corporate services firm licensed in the Sharjah Media City (SHAMS) free zone, handling company formation, visas and PRO, bookkeeping, VAT and corporate tax for UAE businesses. Guides are researched from FTA, Ministry of Finance and free zone sources. Qawi on LinkedIn

Sources

Last checked: 02 November 2026

This is general information, not tax or legal advice for your specific situation.