Can You Pay Yourself a Salary From Your Own UAE Company? Yes. The Real Question Is Whether the Company Gets a Deduction, And What That Is Worth

The UAE charges no personal income tax on salary and no personal income tax on dividends [1]. Hold that thought, because it dismantles the question almost everybody asks.

"Can I pay myself a salary from my company and deduct it?" is really two questions wearing one coat. The first is whether you can pay yourself. You can, in more than one form. The second is whether the company gets a Corporate Tax deduction for the payment, and that is the only half with money attached, because with no personal income tax at the other end you are not moving income from a taxed pocket to an untaxed one. You are only changing your company's taxable income.

So here is the number that should frame everything that follows. Corporate Tax is 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it [1]. A deduction is therefore worth, at absolute best, nine fils in the dirham, and only on the slice of income above AED 375,000. Below that line it is worth nothing at all, because the company was already paying nothing.

Since 2013, BusinessDubai.ae has set up UAE companies and run their post-incorporation compliance, and owner remuneration is the question that arrives most often and gets answered most casually. This guide covers what the three payment types actually are, what the deduction is worth in your situation, and where the arm's length question and the payroll reality bite.

What are you actually choosing between?

Short answer: three different payments with three different bodies of paperwork behind them, not three names for taking money out.

Founders use "salary", "director's fee" and "dividend" interchangeably in conversation and then discover that the authorities, the banks and the accounts do not.

The bottom row is the one that changes the whole conversation. In a country with personal income tax, the salary versus dividend decision is about which rate applies to you. In the UAE, it is not about you at all.

The line in the table that founders find hardest is the third one down. A salary needs a contract. A director's fee needs a resolution. A dividend needs distributable profit and a resolution. Money leaving the company bank account with none of those behind it is not any of the three. It is an unclassified transfer that your accountant will eventually have to characterise, usually at year end, usually with the least favourable options remaining.

Why is this only about the company's deduction?

Short answer: because with no personal income tax at the receiving end, the money in your hand is the same in every case and only the company's taxable income moves.

Work the arithmetic. Take a company with AED 900,000 of profit before any payment to the owner, and a sole owner deciding how to take AED 400,000.

The owner receives AED 400,000 in both live scenarios and pays nothing personally in either [1]. The only line that moves is the company's tax bill, and it moves by AED 36,000, which is exactly 9% of AED 400,000.

Quick Math: A deduction is worth 9% of itself, and only on income above AED 375,000. Below the threshold it is worth nothing. Here is the same AED 400,000 payment against different profit levels.

Read the first two rows before you build a payroll. A company with AED 375,000 or less of taxable income already pays zero [1]. Putting yourself on the books there costs you bank charges, payroll administration and an end of service liability, and buys you a deduction worth nothing.

Pro Tip: Establish what the deduction is worth to your company before you decide anything else. For a large number of small UAE companies the honest answer is "nothing this year", and that single number turns a complicated tax question into a simple operational one about how you want to be paid.

One thing this guide will not do is give you a statutory test for when a particular payment is deductible. Whether a specific salary or fee is deductible for Corporate Tax turns on the deduction rules in Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 and the Federal Tax Authority's guidance on payments to connected persons, and the answer depends on facts we cannot see from here. What we can tell you without qualification is what a deduction is worth if you get it, and that number is small enough that it should change how much energy you spend on the question.

Want the deduction modelled against your own numbers before you set up a payroll? Talk to a setup expert→

Is the deduction worth anything if you elect Small Business Relief?

Short answer: no, and this is where paying yourself a large salary can actively cost you money rather than saving it.

Small Business Relief treats a business with revenue at or below AED 3,000,000 as having derived no taxable income for the period, on election [2][5]. Ministerial Decision No. 131 of 2026 extended it to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029 [2]. In a period where you elect, other exemptions, reliefs and deductions are switched off [2][5].

So in an electing period, a salary deduction is worth exactly nothing. Your taxable income was already deemed to be nil. There is nothing left for the deduction to reduce.

That would be merely pointless. What makes it dangerous is the loss rule.

Under Article 4(1) of Ministerial Decision No. 73 of 2023, a tax loss incurred in a tax period where Small Business Relief is elected cannot be carried forward to any subsequent tax period. It is permanently lost. Under Article 4(2), unutilised losses from earlier periods in which you did not elect may be carried forward, but only into subsequent periods in which you again do not elect, subject to Article 37 of the Corporate Tax Law [3]. Article 5 applies the same two part structure to net interest expenditure, with Article 5(1) destroying net interest incurred in an electing period and Article 5(2) preserving unutilised net interest from earlier non-electing periods, subject to Article 30 [3].

Put those together with a large owner salary and the trap is obvious.

Common Mistake: Paying yourself a big salary in an electing year to "reduce the tax", when the tax was already nil, and turning a profitable period into a loss making one. You have converted an asset into nothing. Note carefully that this is not the flat claim that Small Business Relief destroys your losses. Losses from earlier non-electing periods are parked, not destroyed [3]. It is the loss of the electing year itself that disappears.

Our Small Business Relief guide covers the eligibility conditions and the exclusions, and our first tax period guide covers why founders often elect in the wrong period entirely.

What does arm's length mean when the person you are paying is you?

Short answer: it means the payment is looked at against what an unconnected person doing the same work would have received, and being the owner is precisely what makes the question arise.

The arm's length principle applies to transactions with related parties and connected persons. An owner drawing remuneration from their own company is a connected person by definition, so this is not an exotic scenario that only applies to multinationals. It applies to a two person consultancy in Business Bay.

The disclosure requirements and the thresholds that trigger formal documentation are set by the Federal Tax Authority and are not something to take from an article. Confirm the current thresholds and schedules that apply to your entity with the FTA or your adviser. Our UAE transfer pricing guide sets out the documentation framework and the methods in detail.

What matters practically is far simpler than the framework suggests. The question being asked is: would an unconnected person, doing this job, with these responsibilities, for this many hours, in this market, have been paid this?

That question has a good answer or a bad one depending on what you can show.

Common Mistake: Setting your salary at year end, once the profit figure is known, at whatever number makes the tax come out nicely. That is the single most recognisable pattern there is, because remuneration that tracks profit rather than the job is exactly what an arm's length test is designed to notice. Decide the figure at the start of the year, on the basis of the role, and leave it alone.

Real Talk: We are not going to give you a safe harbour percentage, a multiple of profit, or a documentation checklist that "satisfies" the requirement, because none of those exist as published rules and inventing one would be worse than useless. What we can tell you is that the founders who have a comfortable conversation about this are the ones who can produce a contract, a role description, an approval and twelve monthly payments. The ones who cannot produce those are having a different conversation.

What does it actually take to run yourself on the payroll?

Short answer: an employment relationship, with everything that carries, including a monthly WPS file and an end of service liability accruing against you.

Deciding to take a salary is deciding to become an employee of your own company, at least for that payment. That is an operational commitment, not a bookkeeping entry.

The employment contract. Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 works on fixed-term contracts of up to three years, renewable by agreement [4]. Notice is not less than 30 and not more than 90 days as agreed in the contract, under Article 43 [4]. Annual leave is 30 days a year under Article 29 [4].

End of service accrues against you. Under Article 51, end of service gratuity is 21 days of basic wage per year for the first five years and 30 days per year after that, calculated on the last basic wage rather than the total package, pro-rated after one year of continuous service, and capped so that the total does not exceed two years' wage [4].

Quick Math: Put yourself on a basic wage of AED 30,000 a month. Twenty one days of basic wage is roughly AED 21,000 for each of the first five years, so about AED 105,000 of accrued gratuity by year five, rising at about AED 30,000 a year after that [4]. Now split the same package as AED 12,000 basic and AED 18,000 allowances. The gratuity accrual falls to about AED 8,400 a year, because the calculation runs on basic wage, not on the total. The structure of your own package changes a liability sitting in your own accounts.

The WPS file. Where the Wages Protection System applies to your entity, salaries are paid through it every month, which means a bank that supports WPS and a file that reconciles to your contracts. Bank pricing varies: Mashreq offers WPS payroll free, while Ruya charges free setup and then around AED 31.50 per file per month, and the position is not flagged in our source data for every provider [6]. Our WPS payroll guide covers what goes into the file, why files reject and what a failed payroll month costs you, and our UAE business bank account comparison covers which providers charge for it.

The permissions. Whether you can hold a work permit with your own company, and whether you hold residence as an investor or partner rather than as an employee, depends on your licensing authority and on whether you are on the mainland or in a free zone. Do not assume the answer transfers between structures. Confirm it with MOHRE, your free zone authority or your licensing authority. Our work permit versus business licence guide sets out how the documents relate, and our investor visa requirements guide covers the ownership route to residence.

Pro Tip: Price the full operational cost before you decide, not just the tax saving. A payroll for one person still needs a WPS capable account, a monthly file, contract administration and a gratuity provision in the accounts. If the deduction is worth AED 20,000 a year and the machinery costs a meaningful fraction of that in bank charges and professional fees, the decision is closer than the headline 9% suggests.

Our post-setup services team runs exactly this machinery for owner-managed companies, which is usually cheaper than a founder discovering the WPS calendar the hard way.

Does it change if you are the only shareholder?

Short answer: yes. With no other shareholders it is a tax and paperwork question. With outside investors it is a governance question, and getting it wrong there costs you relationships rather than tax.

The structural point is that a salary sits above the profit line and a dividend sits below it. For a sole shareholder that distinction is almost purely about the company's tax position. Once someone else owns 20% of the company, every dirham you take as salary is a dirham that never reaches the profit they share in, and every dirham you take as dividend is shared with them pro rata. You have moved from a tax decision to an economics decision between shareholders.

Common Mistake: A founder with investors setting their own salary by deciding what they need to live on. Remuneration in a company with outside shareholders is an approved figure, not a personal one, and it belongs in the shareholder agreement or in a board minute before it appears in a bank statement. Our founder shareholder agreement guide covers where remuneration terms sit, and our corporate governance guide for SMEs covers the approval trail that makes those terms real.

Bringing investors in, or planning to? Check your eligibility→

What if your company is a Qualifying Free Zone Person?

Short answer: a deduction against income already taxed at 0% is worth nothing, so the whole calculation changes, and your remuneration becomes a substance question instead of a tax one.

A Qualifying Free Zone Person pays 0% on qualifying income, subject to substance and activity conditions and to audited financial statements, and selling to UAE consumers or into the mainland is generally an excluded activity [7]. Three consequences follow for owner remuneration.

The deduction has nothing to bite on. If your income is qualifying and taxed at 0%, reducing it by a salary reduces a number that was already producing no tax. The 9% arithmetic earlier in this guide does not apply to that income at all.

Small Business Relief is not an alternative. The relief is not available to a Qualifying Free Zone Person [2][5], so a free zone company cannot fall back on it as a simpler route to a nil result.

Remuneration becomes evidence rather than expense. Adequate substance is assessed on your actual activities, people and premises in the zone. A director who genuinely works in the business, on a real contract, with a real and regularly paid package, is a fact that supports the substance story. It is not a box that satisfies it, and paying yourself a salary does not manufacture substance where the activity is not there.

Real Talk: For free zone owners the honest sequence is the reverse of the mainland one. Do not start with "how do I pay myself tax efficiently", because the tax is already nil on qualifying income. Start with whether your qualifying status is genuinely secure, because that is where the money is. A qualifying status that fails is a 9% problem on everything, and no owner salary structure fixes it. Our free zone company setup page covers what the qualifying conditions commit you to, and the conditions themselves should be confirmed against the Federal Tax Authority's current guidance rather than an article.

For a mainland company the arithmetic in this guide applies in full, which is one of the less obvious differences between the two routes. Our mainland company setup page covers the onshore structure, and the same tax position follows a company licensed in the northern emirates, where our business setup in Sharjah page covers a lower cost licensing base with an identical federal tax treatment.

What about a director's fee specifically?

Short answer: it pays you for holding an office, not for doing a job, and calling an operating salary a director's fee to avoid payroll does not change what it actually is.

A director's fee is remuneration for the office of director. It is authorised in the constitutional documents, approved by the shareholders or the board depending on those documents, and recorded in a minute. It is not wages for work done under an employment relationship, which is why it does not naturally belong in a payroll run.

That distinction matters in both directions.

If you are genuinely only a director, taking a fee rather than a salary avoids constructing an employment relationship that does not reflect reality, along with its notice periods, leave entitlement and end of service accrual [4].

If you are the full-time operator of the business, you are not only a director. Labelling a full-time operating role as a director's fee because the paperwork is lighter creates a mismatch between what the documents say and what you actually do, and mismatches of that kind are exactly what an arm's length or substance review looks for.

Where you are both, treat them as two capacities and decide each on its own facts. Whether either payment is deductible for Corporate Tax, and what disclosure it attracts as a connected person payment, is a question for the Federal Tax Authority's rules and for your adviser, and it should be settled before the payments start rather than reconstructed afterwards.

What about taking it as a dividend?

Short answer: it is a share of profit that has already been earned, so it is not a cost of earning that profit, and it needs distributable profit and a proper resolution.

There is no UAE personal income tax on dividends [1], so a distribution reaches you intact. Three practical conditions attach.

There has to be distributable profit. A distribution is made out of profit, which means accounts that show the profit exists. Paying out of a healthy bank balance during a loss making year is not a dividend.

It needs the right approval. A shareholder resolution, consistent with your constitutional documents and any shareholder agreement, recorded at the time.

It has to be identified as one. This is where most small companies fail. Money moved from the company account to the owner's personal account, month after month, with no contract behind it and no resolution, is not a salary and not a dividend. It sits as an unexplained balance owed by the owner to the company, and it has to be characterised eventually, usually under time pressure at year end and often in the least favourable way available.

Common Mistake: Running the company account as a personal account and calling the result "drawings". A single owner company with no separation between the two is a reconciliation problem, a banking problem and a Corporate Tax presentation problem at the same time.

If you are not UAE tax resident, or your home country still taxes you on worldwide income, the absence of UAE personal tax is only half the picture, and the other half is decided abroad. Our double taxation agreements guide covers the UAE treaty position, and the treatment of a distribution in your home country is a question for an adviser there.

So how should you actually decide?

Short answer: work out what the deduction is worth before you decide anything else, because in a large share of cases the answer is zero and the decision becomes purely operational.

Then, and only then, deal with the machinery: contract or resolution, approval on file, payroll and WPS if it is a salary, and a consistent monthly payment rather than a year end adjustment.

Say this part out loud. Owner remuneration is a place to get a written position from a tax adviser before your first return, not after it. Not because the rules are impenetrable, but because the facts that support your position, the contract, the approval, the role description and the payment pattern, all have to exist during the year. A position formed after the year has closed is arguing about documents that were never created. Our Corporate Tax filing guide covers what the return itself requires once that position is settled.

Real Client Stories

Real examples from businesses we have helped set up. Names have been changed for privacy.

Rami, who paid himself a salary that destroyed a loss

Rami ran a Dubai agency with revenue of about AED 2.1 million and a modest profit. He elected Small Business Relief and, on advice from a friend rather than an adviser, paid himself a large back-dated salary in the final month of the period to "get the tax down".

The tax was already nil, because electing the relief treats the business as having derived no taxable income for that period [2][5]. The salary achieved nothing on that front and pushed the period into a loss. Under Article 4(1) of Ministerial Decision No. 73 of 2023, a loss incurred in a period where the relief is elected cannot be carried forward at all [3]. He turned strongly profitable the following year with nothing to set against it.

His comment: "I was trying to save tax I was never going to pay, and I spent an asset doing it."

Leila, whose salary had no paperwork behind it

Leila had been transferring money from her mainland company to her personal account for two years and describing it as her salary. There was no employment contract, no work permit position, no payroll and no WPS file, and the amounts varied with what the account could support that month.

The problem surfaced at her first proper year end, when the transfers had to be characterised. They were not salary in any documented sense and they had not been approved as distributions, so they sat as a balance owed back to the company until the position was reconstructed. Nothing about her business was improper. Everything about her paperwork was absent.

Her comment: "I thought paying myself was the simple part. It was the only part I had no documents for."

Adnan, who set his own salary in a company with investors

Adnan raised a small round and kept paying himself the figure he had set as sole founder, increasing it twice as the business grew. Neither increase was approved by the board or reflected in the shareholder agreement.

The Corporate Tax exposure was manageable. The shareholder conversation was not, because every increase had come out of profit the investors shared in, and the first they saw of it was in a set of accounts. The remuneration was ultimately approved at a similar figure. The trust took considerably longer to rebuild.

His comment: "The number was defensible. Setting it without asking anyone was not."

Get your owner remuneration position in writing before your first return

The answer to "can I pay myself a salary and deduct it" is that you can pay yourself in more than one form, that none of them cost you personally because the UAE charges no personal income tax on salary or dividends [1], and that the only thing at stake is a company deduction worth at most 9% of the amount, and only on taxable income above AED 375,000 [1].

For a very large share of small UAE companies that deduction is worth nothing this year, either because taxable income is already below the threshold, or because Small Business Relief has been elected and taxable income is deemed nil [2][5], or because the company is a Qualifying Free Zone Person taxed at 0% on qualifying income [7]. In those cases the decision is about how you want to be paid and what paperwork you are prepared to run, not about tax.

Where the deduction is worth something, it is worth having a contract, an approval, a defensible figure and twelve monthly payments behind it, rather than one transfer in the last week of the year.

Since 2013, BusinessDubai.ae has set up UAE companies and run their compliance afterwards. We will tell you whether the deduction is worth anything in your case before you build a payroll for it, what the free zone or mainland structure does to the arithmetic, and where the governance approvals need to sit if you have investors. Our post-setup services team runs the payroll, the WPS file and the annual filing once the position is settled.

Get a free consultation→

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I pay myself a salary from my own UAE company?

Yes, in principle. The practical questions are whether your structure and residence route support you being an employee of your own company, and whether the company gets a Corporate Tax deduction for the payment. Confirm the employment and permit side with your licensing authority or free zone.

Do I pay personal income tax on a salary from my UAE company?

No. The UAE charges no personal income tax on salary [1]. That is why the salary versus dividend question here is entirely about the company's position rather than yours.

Do I pay personal tax on dividends from my UAE company?

Not in the UAE [1]. If you are tax resident elsewhere, or your home country taxes worldwide income, the treatment there is a separate question for an adviser in that country.

Is my salary deductible for UAE Corporate Tax?

Whether a specific payment is deductible turns on the deduction rules in the Corporate Tax Law and the Federal Tax Authority's treatment of payments to connected persons, applied to your facts. Get a written position from a tax adviser rather than assuming it.

How much is a salary deduction actually worth?

At most 9% of the deducted amount, and only on taxable income above AED 375,000, because the first AED 375,000 of taxable income is charged at 0% [1]. Below that threshold the deduction is worth nothing.

If my profit is under AED 375,000, should I put myself on a salary for tax reasons?

No. The company already pays 0% at that level [1], so the deduction saves nothing. Decide on operational grounds instead, and weigh the payroll and end of service machinery you would be taking on.

Does paying myself a salary help if I elect Small Business Relief?

No. Electing the relief treats the business as having derived no taxable income for that period and switches off other reliefs and deductions [2][5]. There is nothing for the deduction to reduce.

Can a salary create a loss that I carry forward?

Not in a period where you elect Small Business Relief. A loss incurred in an electing period cannot be carried forward at all and is permanently lost, under Article 4(1) of Ministerial Decision No. 73 of 2023 [3].

So do I lose my old losses if I elect the relief?

No, and this is the half of the rule that is most often stated wrongly. Unutilised losses from earlier periods where you did not elect may be carried forward into later periods in which you again do not elect, subject to Article 37 of the Corporate Tax Law, under Article 4(2) [3]. It is the electing year's own loss that disappears.

What is the difference between a salary and a director's fee?

A salary pays you for work under an employment relationship and carries employment obligations. A director's fee pays you for holding the office of director, is approved under your constitutional documents and minuted, and does not of itself create an employment relationship.

Can I call my salary a director's fee to avoid running payroll?

Labelling does not change substance. If you are the full-time operator of the business, describing that role as a director's fee creates a mismatch between your documents and your actual activity, which is exactly what an arm's length or substance review looks for.

What is a dividend and how is it different?

A dividend is a share of profit already earned, paid out of distributable profit with a shareholder resolution behind it. Because it is a distribution of profit rather than a cost of producing it, it sits below the profit line in the accounts.

Can I just transfer money to myself and sort it out later?

That is the most common and most expensive version of this question. A transfer with no contract, resolution or classification is neither salary nor dividend, and it ends up as a balance owed back to the company until it is characterised, usually under year end pressure.

Why does paying myself raise an arm's length question?

Because you are a connected person of your own company. The question asked is whether an unconnected person doing the same job, with the same responsibilities, would have been paid the same. Being the owner is what makes the question arise.

Is there a safe percentage of profit I can pay myself?

There is no published safe harbour percentage, and anybody offering one is inventing it. The test is the role and the market, not a share of profit. Remuneration that moves with profit rather than with the job is the pattern most likely to attract a question.

What documentation should I have for my own salary?

At minimum, a written employment contract predating the payments, a defined role and time commitment, an approval on file, and a consistent record of monthly payments. The formal disclosure thresholds for connected person payments are set by the Federal Tax Authority, so confirm those with the FTA or your adviser.

Do I need transfer pricing documentation for my own salary?

The documentation thresholds and schedules are set by the Federal Tax Authority and depend on your size and transactions. Confirm the current requirements for your entity with the FTA. Our transfer pricing guide covers the framework and the methods.

Does my salary have to go through WPS?

Where the Wages Protection System applies to your entity, salaries paid under an employment relationship run through it monthly. Our WPS payroll guide covers who has to run WPS, what goes into the file and why files reject.

What does WPS payroll cost?

It varies by bank. Mashreq offers WPS payroll free, and Ruya charges free setup and then around AED 31.50 per file per month, with the position not flagged in our source data for every provider [6]. Confirm the current charge with your bank.

Does paying myself a salary create an end of service liability?

Yes, if it is a genuine employment relationship. Gratuity is 21 days of basic wage per year for the first five years and 30 days per year after that, calculated on the last basic wage and capped at two years' wage, under Article 51 [4].

Does the basic wage and allowance split matter?

Considerably. Gratuity is calculated on basic wage, not on the total package [4], so how you structure your own package changes the liability accruing in your own accounts.

Do I need a work permit to be an employee of my own company?

It depends on your licensing authority and on whether you hold residence as an investor or partner rather than as an employee, and the answer differs between mainland and free zone. Confirm it with MOHRE, your free zone authority or your licensing authority.

Does the answer change if I have investors?

Yes, substantially. Salary comes out before profit is shared, so your remuneration changes the economics between shareholders. It should be approved by the board or shareholders and reflected in the shareholder agreement before it is paid.

Does this work differently in a free zone?

If you are a Qualifying Free Zone Person, qualifying income is taxed at 0% subject to substance and activity conditions and audited financial statements [7], so a deduction against that income is worth nothing. Small Business Relief is also unavailable to a Qualifying Free Zone Person [2][5].

Does paying myself a salary help my free zone substance position?

Substance is assessed on your actual activities, people and premises in the zone. A director genuinely working in the business on a real, regularly paid contract is a supporting fact. It is not a box that creates substance where the activity is not there.

Should I take salary or dividends in the UAE?

Neither costs you personally, because there is no UAE personal income tax on either [1]. Choose on the basis of what the company's deduction is worth, what documentation you are prepared to maintain, and, if you have investors, what has been approved.

When should I get advice on this?

Before your first return, not after. The facts that support a remuneration position, the contract, the approval, the role description and the payment pattern, all have to exist during the year, and they cannot be created retrospectively.

Related reading: UAE Transfer Pricing, WPS Payroll Guide, End of Service Gratuity, Your First Tax Period

References

[1] The Official Portal of the UAE Government. Taxation and corporate tax, setting the Corporate Tax rate at 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above, with the return and payment due within nine months from the end of the tax period, and confirming that the UAE levies no personal income tax on salary or on dividends. u.ae corporate tax

[2] UAE Ministry of Finance. Ministerial Decision No. 131 of 2026, issued 29 July 2026, amending Ministerial Decision No. 73 of 2023 on Small Business Relief, extending availability to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029, with the AED 3,000,000 revenue threshold applying to the current and all previous tax periods, the relief requiring an election on the Corporate Tax return, other exemptions reliefs and deductions switched off for an electing period, and unavailability to a Qualifying Free Zone Person. MoF financial legislation

[3] UAE Ministry of Finance. Ministerial Decision No. 73 of 2023 on Small Business Relief, Article 4 on tax losses and Article 5 on net interest expenditure. Article 4(1) and Article 5(1) provide that losses and net interest incurred in a tax period in which the relief is elected cannot be carried forward to subsequent tax periods. Article 4(2) and Article 5(2) provide that unutilised losses and net interest from earlier periods in which the relief was not elected may be carried forward into subsequent periods in which the relief is not elected, subject to Article 37 and Article 30 of the Corporate Tax Law. Ministerial Decision No. 73 of 2023 (PDF)

[4] Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation. Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 Regarding the Regulation of Employment Relationships, including fixed-term contracts of up to three years, Article 29 on 30 days of annual leave, Article 43 on notice of not less than 30 and not more than 90 days, and Article 51 on end of service gratuity at 21 days of basic wage per year for the first five years and 30 days per year thereafter, calculated on the last basic wage and capped at two years' wage. Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 (PDF)

[5] Federal Tax Authority. Small Business Relief topic page, covering the AED 3,000,000 revenue threshold measured for the relevant and all previous tax periods, the election requirement on the Corporate Tax return, the switching off of other exemptions and reliefs for an electing period, and the exclusion of a Qualifying Free Zone Person. FTA Small Business Relief

[6] BusinessDubai.ae. UAE business banking comparison as at August 2026, covering WPS payroll charges including free WPS payroll at Mashreq and free setup then approximately AED 31.50 per file per month at Ruya, with the position not stated in the source for every provider. UAE business bank account comparison

[7] BusinessDubai.ae analysis of the Qualifying Free Zone Person regime, under which the 0% rate applies only to qualifying income and is subject to substance and activity conditions and to audited financial statements, with sales to UAE consumers or into the mainland generally treated as excluded activities. Current conditions should be confirmed against Federal Tax Authority guidance. FTA corporate tax

[8] BusinessDubai.ae. Internal data from UAE company registrations and post-setup compliance engagements since 2013, including owner remuneration positions reconstructed at year end, unclassified owner drawings, and Small Business Relief elections in periods where an owner salary created a loss. businessdubai.ae