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# Small Business Relief Still Requires a Corporate Tax Return

**Author:** Shahaab Ikram | **Category:** Corporate Tax | **Read Time:** 4 min

**Summary:** UAE businesses using Small Business Relief must still register, file a simplified Corporate Tax return and keep supporting records. For 31 December 2025 year-ends, the filing deadline is 30 September 2026.

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Many UAE businesses assume that Small Business Relief means they can ignore Corporate Tax filing. The Federal Tax Authority’s latest clarification makes the position clear: **relief from taxable income does not remove the obligation to file a Corporate Tax return.**

The FTA’s 3 August 2026 notice confirms that Taxable Persons eligible for Small Business Relief must continue meeting their Corporate Tax obligations for each tax period. That includes Corporate Tax registration, submitting a simplified return and maintaining records that support the information reported.

For businesses whose financial year ended on 31 December 2025, the deadline to submit the return and settle any Corporate Tax due is **30 September 2026**. The general rule is that Corporate Tax returns and any tax payable are due within nine months from the end of the relevant tax period, subject to the applicable rules for the business.

Small Business Relief is available to an eligible UAE resident person where revenue does not exceed AED 3 million for the relevant tax period and all previous tax periods. The election is made through the Corporate Tax return. It is not an automatic exemption from administration, and a business should not treat it as permission to skip its EmaraTax obligations.

The simplified return reduces the amount of information required, but it does not eliminate the need for evidence. The FTA may need to verify revenue, taxable income and whether the business met the relief conditions. Businesses should therefore retain sales invoices, bank statements, accounting ledgers, expense support, contracts and other records that explain how revenue was calculated.

A practical review before filing should cover three points. First, confirm that revenue has been measured consistently and that related-party or unusual transactions have not been overlooked. Second, reconcile the accounting records to the bank accounts and investigate unexplained differences. Third, document the Small Business Relief election and retain the working papers supporting eligibility.

Early preparation matters because filing errors are often caused by incomplete records rather than complicated tax calculations. A business that waits until the deadline may discover that invoices are missing, revenue figures do not reconcile or the person filing does not have the required access to EmaraTax.

The message is simple: **Small Business Relief can simplify the tax calculation, but it does not switch off compliance.** Businesses with 31 December 2025 year-ends should treat 30 September 2026 as a real filing deadline, not a date to revisit later.

*Source: Federal Tax Authority, “FTA Confirms Taxable Persons Eligible for the Small Business Relief Must Submit Simplified Corporate Tax Returns Within Prescribed Legal Deadline,” 3 August 2026. This article is for general information and is not tax or legal advice.*