Every VAT-registered business in the UAE must file a VAT return for each tax period, whether or not it traded. This is the part most small businesses get wrong, and the penalties are fixed and automatic.
When your VAT return is due
Returns must be filed, and any tax paid, within 28 days of the end of your tax period. Filing and payment are separate actions — submitting the return without paying still triggers a late payment penalty.
- Quarterly — most businesses. Turnover below AED 150 million.
- Monthly — businesses with turnover above AED 150 million, or those the FTA assigns to monthly periods.
Your assigned tax period is shown on your VAT registration certificate and in your EmaraTax dashboard. You cannot change it without FTA approval. If the 28th falls on a weekend or public holiday, the deadline moves to the next working day.
Nil returns are still mandatory
A VAT-registered business that made no taxable supplies in a period must still file a nil return. Assuming no activity means no filing is one of the most common and most avoidable mistakes — it triggers the same penalty as any other late return.
What goes into the VAT 201
The return reconciles output tax (VAT you charged customers) against input tax (VAT you paid on business purchases). You will report standard-rated supplies, zero-rated supplies, exempt supplies, recoverable input tax, and adjustments including reverse charge on imports. The net figure is either paid to the FTA or claimed as a refund.
A frequent error is claiming the input on a reverse-charge transaction while omitting the corresponding output entry.
The steps
- Close your books for the period and reconcile your bank accounts.
- Classify every transaction correctly: standard-rated, zero-rated, exempt, import, reverse charge.
- Log in to EmaraTax and open Form VAT 201.
- Enter the figures and reconcile them against your accounting records before submitting.
- Submit and pay by the deadline. Keep the confirmation.
Penalties for getting it wrong
Late filing carries a penalty of AED 1,000 for a first offence and AED 2,000 for a repeat within 24 months. Late payment is penalised separately. Under Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025, effective 14 April 2026, unpaid tax attracts a late payment penalty of 14% per annum calculated monthly on the outstanding balance.
Records must be kept for five years, and fifteen years for real estate.
How to make this routine instead of painful
The reason VAT filing hurts is usually that the figures are assembled manually at the end of the period. FTA-accredited accounting software generates the return from transactions you already recorded.
Zoho Books handles this — fTA-accredited accounting — VAT returns, e-invoicing and corporate tax ready. Try it free.
Zoho Books is FTA-accredited and an official Digital Tax Integrator, so the VAT 201 can be filed directly through EmaraTax from inside the software rather than re-keying figures into the portal.
Useful alongside: our free UAE VAT calculator, invoice generator and AI tax assistant. For choosing software, see our guide to FTA-accredited accounting software.
Disclosure: UAE Info Portal is an approved Zoho affiliate. If you subscribe through our links we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice. Rules, deadlines and penalties are set by the FTA and MOHRE and change over time — always confirm current requirements on the official portals or with a registered tax agent before acting.