If your UAE business has revenue of AED 3 million or less, you may be able to pay no Corporate Tax at all, through Small Business Relief (SBR). In August 2026 the Ministry of Finance extended it until the end of 2029, so it's worth understanding properly.
What Small Business Relief does
If you elect Small Business Relief for a tax period, you are treated as having no taxable income for that period. No Corporate Tax is payable, and you file a simplified return. It's an election: you choose to apply it each year in your Corporate Tax return.
Who qualifies
You can elect Small Business Relief if all of these are true:
- You are a resident person for UAE Corporate Tax: a UAE company, or an individual doing business in the UAE.
- Your revenue is AED 3 million or less in the tax period, and it was AED 3 million or less in every previous tax period.
- The tax period ends on or before 31 December 2029.
The test is on revenue, not profit. A consultancy with AED 2.5 million revenue and AED 1.5 million profit qualifies; a trading company with AED 3.2 million revenue and a loss does not.
One strike and you're out: once your revenue goes above AED 3 million in any tax period, you can't claim the relief in later periods, even if revenue falls back below the threshold.
Who can't claim it
- Qualifying Free Zone Persons: they have their own 0% regime instead. See Corporate Tax for Free Zone Companies.
- Members of large multinational groups (consolidated group revenue above EUR 750 million).
- Businesses that artificially split their activities across several companies to stay under the threshold. The FTA can deny the relief and apply penalties.
How to claim Small Business Relief
- Register for Corporate Tax on time: the relief doesn't remove this obligation.
- Keep proper books and prepare financial statements for the year. Businesses with revenue up to AED 3 million may prepare them on a cash basis.
- Confirm your revenue for the period, and check you have never exceeded AED 3 million before.
- Elect the relief in your Corporate Tax return on EmaraTax.
- File by the deadline: nine months after your year-end.
See Corporate Tax Return Due Date and Filing Guide for the deadlines.
The trade-offs
Small Business Relief is usually a good deal, but it isn't free:
- Losses are lost. Tax losses incurred in a period where you elect the relief can't be carried forward to later years. If you're making a big loss now and expect profits after 2029, compare both options.
- Interest restrictions: disallowed net interest expenditure in relief periods also can't be carried forward.
- You still need records. The relief removes the tax, not the bookkeeping. The FTA can still ask for your accounts.
Small Business Relief vs the AED 375,000 0% band
Every business pays 0% on the first AED 375,000 of taxable income anyway. So Small Business Relief matters most to small businesses with high profit margins: taxable income above AED 375,000 on revenue of AED 3 million or less. For a business with lower profits, the outcome may be the same either way, and keeping the ability to carry losses forward can matter more. Run your numbers through our Corporate Tax calculator.
Individuals and freelancers
Individuals only come into Corporate Tax once their business turnover exceeds AED 1 million in a calendar year. A freelancer above that line but with revenue of AED 3 million or less can usually elect Small Business Relief too.
Check if you qualify
We review your revenue, elect Small Business Relief in your Corporate Tax return and keep the records the FTA expects.
Corporate Tax return filing service → or ask us on WhatsApp.