UAE Corporate Tax: How ready are companies in meeting Sept. 30 deadline?

The UAE’s corporate tax regime is now in full effect, and the September 30, 2025 corporate tax return filing deadline looms large. With 30 days remaining, businesses face a moment of truth.

Compliance is no longer a regulatory checkbox; it is a strategic imperative. Companies that maintain financial hygiene will transition seamlessly, while those scrambling at the last-minute risk penalties, liquidity strain, and reputational setbacks.

A few ready, but many are scrambling

Across the UAE, businesses can be broadly grouped into two camps:

• A small minority that is audit-ready and well-prepared.

• A vast majority still racing against time to reconcile accounts, complete audits, and prepare filings.

The audit-ready companies are usually those with bank borrowings. Since audited accounts are mandatory to secure and maintain credit facilities, these businesses have built a discipline of structured financial reporting.

As a result, they stand comfortably positioned to file their corporate tax returns with fewer disruptions. In contrast, many others are encountering the compliance challenge head-on for the first time. Years of operating without audits or reconciliations have left gaps that now appear daunting.

Legacy Issues: No audits, no reconciliations

For these businesses, the biggest hurdle lies in reconciling basic financial records. Payables, receivables, and inter-company balances often remain incomplete or outdated. In some cases, companies are reconciling multiple years of accounts simultaneously - an enormous undertaking under tight deadlines.

The lack of financial discipline is no longer just an operational issue. It is now a regulatory risk that threatens compliance, strains finance teams, and pushes auditors and tax consultants to their limits.

Transfer pricing and opening balances

Another challenge lies in the UAE’s transfer pricing rules, which require meticulous documentation and disclosure of related-party transactions. Companies with incomplete or informal records will find compliance especially burdensome.

Equally important is the treatment of opening balances as of January 1, 2024. Adjustments may be required, and without structured records, businesses risk misreporting—a costly mistake under corporate tax scrutiny.

Business blindness: Driving without data

The absence of timely audits, reconciliations, or management information systems exposes a deeper problem: lack of visibility. Running a business without reliable, real-time data is akin to driving blindfolded.

Beyond compliance, this lack of visibility leaves entrepreneurs and boards unable to make informed strategic decisions. The challenge is not just regulatory, but operational and existential.

Audit timelines and liquidity pressures

Even companies with relatively sound records are feeling the heat. Audit cycles are taking longer than usual as auditors work closely with tax consultants to ensure corporate tax provisions are appropriately reflected in financial statements.

Simultaneously, liquidity concerns are surfacing. Many businesses show healthy profits on paper but face cash flow constraints due to delayed receivables or working capital pressures.

This creates a paradox: companies report millions in profit yet may struggle to generate the cash needed to pay their tax liability.

As the September 30 deadline approaches, this gap between accounting profits and cash availability will become more pronounced, pushing liquidity management to the forefront of strategic priorities.

Building a compliance-driven culture

The lesson for businesses is clear: compliance cannot be treated as a one-off project. Instead, companies must embed compliance into their corporate culture by:

• Institutionalising annual audits.

• Strengthening internal controls and governance frameworks.

• Implementing robust financial systems that generate reliable, real-time data.

 Maintaining financial hygiene goes far beyond avoiding penalties. It enables sharper decision-making, builds resilience, and equips businesses to thrive in the UAE’s competitive landscape. As the clock ticks down to September 30, businesses must ask themselves: Are we prepared for compliance—or are we risking disruption?