Corporate Tax Records UAE: 7-Year Retention Checklist

Good Corporate Tax record keeping is not simply a matter of saving a copy of the tax return after it has been filed.

A UAE business needs records that explain how the figures in its Corporate Tax Return were produced, support the underlying accounting transactions and allow the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) to determine the business’s Taxable Income.

Under Article 56 of the UAE Corporate Tax Law, a Taxable Person must retain relevant records and documents for seven years following the end of the Tax Period to which they relate. The records must support information included in the Corporate Tax Return or other submissions and enable the FTA to readily ascertain the Taxable Person’s Taxable Income. Exempt Persons are also subject to a seven-year record-keeping requirement for records that enable the FTA to verify their exempt status.

For businesses, the practical question is therefore not only:

“Have we kept our accounts?”

It is:

“Could we explain and evidence the Corporate Tax treatment of the transactions in those accounts several years from now?”

This guide explains which Corporate Tax records UAE businesses should retain, how the seven-year period works, what supporting evidence matters and how to organise records so they remain accessible if the FTA requests them.

How Long Must UAE Corporate Tax Records Be Kept?

The Corporate Tax Law establishes a specific retention period of seven years.

Article 56 requires a Taxable Person to maintain records and documents for seven years following the end of the Tax Period to which the records relate.

The Federal Tax Authority also confirms in its Corporate Tax guidance that records and documents should be retained for at least seven years following the end of the relevant Tax Period.

Example: Calendar-year business

Assume a company’s Tax Period runs from:

1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025

The seven-year period begins after the end of that Tax Period.

The business should therefore retain the relevant Corporate Tax records through the seven-year retention period following 31 December 2025.

A company should not calculate the period from:

The date the Corporate Tax Return was filed.
The date Corporate Tax was paid.
The date an invoice was issued.
The date its accountant completed the tax calculation.

The Corporate Tax rule is linked to the end of the relevant Tax Period.

Does the Seven-Year Rule Apply to Every Document?

The Corporate Tax Law does not prescribe one universal folder containing exactly the same documents for every company.

Instead, the records must be sufficient to:

Support the information included in the Tax Return or another document filed with the FTA.
Allow the FTA to readily determine the Taxable Person’s Taxable Income.

The actual documentation therefore depends on the nature and complexity of the business.

A small professional services business may require a different evidence set from a construction company, trading company, investment business or multi-entity group.

The FTA’s Corporate Tax guidance states that, in addition to Financial Statements, records would typically include transaction records, assets, liabilities and stock held at the end of the Tax Period. Examples of supporting documentation can include bank statements, financing documents, sales and purchase ledgers, invoices, till records, orders, delivery notes and relevant business correspondence.

Corporate Tax Record Keeping vs Filing Documents With the Tax Return

Businesses should distinguish between retaining a document and submitting a document with the Corporate Tax Return.

Not every record that should be retained is necessarily uploaded when the return is filed.

Records may need to remain available because they support:

Revenue.
Expenses.
Tax adjustments.
Elections.
Reliefs.
Exempt Income.
Tax losses.
Asset values.
Related-party transactions.
Other Corporate Tax positions.

The FTA can request information, documents or records where required for administering the Corporate Tax Law.

The correct record-keeping approach is therefore:

Retain sufficient evidence first, then provide the relevant information when required.

Businesses should not wait for an FTA request before trying to reconstruct historical support.

Core Corporate Tax Records Checklist

The following checklist provides a practical starting point.

Not every item will apply to every Taxable Person, and additional records may be necessary depending on the business.

1. Financial Statements

Maintain the Financial Statements used as the basis for determining Taxable Income.

These may include:

Statement of financial position / balance sheet.
Profit and loss statement.
Cash flow statement, where prepared.
Statement of changes in equity, where applicable.
Notes and supporting schedules.
Trial balance supporting the Financial Statements.

The Corporate Tax Law allows the FTA to request the Financial Statements used to determine Taxable Income.

Certain categories of Taxable Persons must also prepare and maintain audited financial statements.

Under Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025, for Tax Periods commencing on or after 1 January 2025, this includes a Taxable Person that is not a Tax Group and has Revenue exceeding AED 50 million during the relevant Tax Period, as well as a Qualifying Free Zone Person. Tax Groups are subject to requirements concerning audited special purpose financial statements.

A business that is not legally required to have audited Financial Statements should not interpret this as removing its obligation to maintain reliable accounting records.

2. General Ledger and Trial Balance

The general ledger should provide a clear record of transactions posted during the Tax Period.

Retain the year-end trial balance and, where useful, the detailed ledger supporting material balances.

The business should be able to move logically from:

Source transaction → accounting entry → trial balance → Financial Statements → Corporate Tax adjustment → Tax Return

If a figure in the Corporate Tax calculation cannot be reconciled back to the accounting records, the evidence trail is incomplete.

3. Sales and Revenue Records

Maintain evidence supporting reported Revenue.

Depending on the business, this can include:

Sales invoices.
Customer statements.
Contracts.
Sales orders.
Delivery notes.
POS records.
E-commerce transaction records.
Credit notes.
Revenue schedules.
Deferred or accrued revenue calculations.

The evidence should allow the business to explain both the accounting treatment and any Corporate Tax adjustment.

Example

Suppose a consulting company records AED 750,000 of service revenue.

Keeping only the year-end profit and loss statement does not explain how that revenue arose.

The underlying evidence may include:

Signed client agreements.
Invoices.
Project records.
Credit notes.
Bank receipts.
Accounts receivable ledger.

Together, those records provide an auditable trail.

4. Purchase and Expense Records

Deductible expenses should be supported by appropriate documentation.

Depending on the expense, retain:

Supplier invoices.
Purchase orders.
Contracts.
Payment evidence.
Expense reports.
Employee reimbursement documentation.
Business correspondence.
Calculation schedules.

The existence of an accounting entry by itself may not explain why an expense was incurred or whether it relates to the business.

The supporting evidence should help establish:

What was purchased.
Who supplied it.
Why the business incurred the expense.
How much was paid or accrued.
How it was treated for Corporate Tax.

5. Bank Statements and Payment Evidence

Retain relevant business bank records.

These can help support:

Customer receipts.
Supplier payments.
Loan movements.
Capital contributions.
Dividends or distributions.
Related-party payments.
Asset purchases.
Foreign transactions.

Bank statements are particularly useful for reconciling accounting records to actual cash movements.

However, a bank payment by itself does not necessarily prove the Corporate Tax treatment.

For example, a transfer labelled “consulting” may still need an invoice, agreement and evidence of the underlying business purpose.

6. Asset Register and Supporting Documents

The FTA has specifically identified records of assets, including asset purchases and disposals, as part of the essential records Taxable Persons should maintain.

Maintain an asset register showing information such as:

Asset description.
Acquisition date.
Original cost.
Accounting classification.
Depreciation.
Disposal date.
Disposal proceeds.
Gain or loss.
Supporting invoice or contract.

Where a Corporate Tax adjustment depends on an asset’s historical value or treatment, retain the supporting calculation as well.

Do not discard an old purchase invoice simply because the asset has already been depreciated in the accounting records if that document remains relevant to the applicable tax position.

7. Inventory Records

Trading, manufacturing and other inventory-based businesses should maintain reliable stock records.

The Tax Procedures Executive Regulation specifically identifies inventory records and statements, including quantities and values at the end of the relevant Tax Period, together with records of stock counts related to those statements.

Useful records can include:

Inventory listing.
Quantity reports.
Stock-count sheets.
Valuation reports.
Cost calculations.
Write-off records.
Slow-moving inventory calculations.
Purchase documents.

The business should be able to explain how inventory values in the Financial Statements were determined.

8. Liability and Financing Records

The FTA identifies records of liabilities among the essential records to be retained.

Depending on the business, retain evidence relating to:

Bank loans.
Shareholder loans.
Related-party financing.
Interest expenses.
Accrued expenses.
Supplier balances.
Provisions.
Other material liabilities.

For financing arrangements, documentation may include:

Loan agreements.
Repayment schedules.
Interest calculations.
Bank statements.
Board approvals.
Related-party documentation.

This becomes particularly important where Corporate Tax rules affect the deductibility of financing or interest expenses.

9. Payroll and Employee Records

The Tax Procedures Executive Regulation includes records of wages and salaries among the accounting records and commercial books to be maintained.

Useful documentation can include:

Payroll reports.
Employment contracts.
Salary payment records.
Employee benefit schedules.
Bonus calculations.
Reimbursement records.

Where payments involve owners, directors or Connected Persons, additional evidence may be relevant to support the Corporate Tax treatment.

10. Contracts, Licences and Business Correspondence

The Tax Procedures framework expressly identifies correspondence, invoices, licences and contracts relating to the business as supporting records.

Contracts can be particularly important because accounting entries do not always show:

The legal parties.
Commercial obligations.
Payment conditions.
Service periods.
Ownership rights.
Related-party relationships.

Relevant correspondence may also help explain why a transaction was treated in a particular way.

This does not mean businesses should retain every routine email indefinitely.

The focus should be on documents that support material transactions and tax positions.

11. Corporate Tax Return and Tax Calculation

Maintain a complete copy of the Corporate Tax filing package for each Tax Period.

A good internal file should include:

Final Corporate Tax Return.
Tax computation.
Supporting schedules.
Reconciliations.
Adjustments from Accounting Income to Taxable Income.
Evidence supporting reliefs or exemptions claimed.
Relevant elections.
Submission confirmation.
Payment evidence, where applicable.

The calculation should be understandable without relying on the memory of the employee or adviser who prepared it.

Seven years is a long time.

Employees change, systems are upgraded and external advisers may no longer be engaged by the business.

The file should therefore explain itself.

12. Corporate Tax Adjustments

Maintain a supporting schedule for adjustments made to Accounting Income.

For every material adjustment, retain:

Adjustment	Evidence to retain
Non-deductible expense	Ledger detail and basis for tax treatment
Exempt Income	Calculation and supporting transaction evidence
Interest adjustment	Financing records and calculation
Tax loss	Original loss calculation and utilisation schedule
Related-party adjustment	Transfer Pricing analysis and agreements
Foreign Tax Credit	Foreign tax documentation and calculation
Relief claimed	Evidence that conditions were satisfied
Election	Copy of election and supporting calculation

This table is a practical control framework rather than a statutory template.

The purpose is to ensure the business can explain how it moved from accounting profit or loss to Taxable Income.

13. Elections and Tax Positions

Some Corporate Tax treatments depend on an election or a specific tax position adopted by the business.

The Tax Procedures Executive Regulation specifically includes documents containing details of an election, assessment, determination or calculation made by the Taxpayer, together with the basis or method used.

If a business makes an election, retain:

The election.
Date.
Relevant Tax Period.
Calculation.
Supporting facts.
Internal approval.
Applicable legal basis.

Do not rely on a spreadsheet cell labelled only:

Tax election = Yes

Seven years later, the business should still be able to establish what was elected and why.

14. Related-Party and Transfer Pricing Records

Corporate Tax record keeping becomes especially important where transactions involve Related Parties or Connected Persons.

Businesses may need evidence such as:

Intercompany agreements.
Pricing calculations.
Invoices.
Functional analysis.
Benchmarking.
Management approvals.
Supporting correspondence.

Where the applicable thresholds and conditions require a Master File and Local File, those documents have their own Corporate Tax requirements.

Even where the formal Master File and Local File obligation does not apply, the FTA can request information supporting the arm’s length nature of transactions with Related Parties and Connected Persons.

A business should therefore avoid assuming:

“We are below the documentation threshold, so we need no Transfer Pricing evidence.”

The amount and depth of documentation should reflect the transaction and applicable requirements.

15. Ownership and Shareholding Records

The FTA has identified records of shares or ownership interests held at the end of the Tax Period as part of the essential documentation that may need to be maintained.

Useful records can include:

Share register.
Ownership structure.
Changes in shareholding.
Group structure.
Share purchase or transfer documents.
Incorporation documents.

Ownership information can affect several Corporate Tax areas, including group relationships, reliefs and Related Party analysis.

16. Evidence for Small Business Relief

A business claiming Small Business Relief should retain evidence supporting its eligibility.

The FTA reiterated in September 2026 that persons eligible for Small Business Relief still have compliance obligations, including maintaining documents that allow the Authority to verify Revenue, Taxable Income and eligibility for the relief.

Relevant evidence may include:

Revenue records.
Financial statements or accounts.
Supporting sales records.
Corporate Tax Return.
Documentation showing the conditions for the relief were satisfied.

Small Business Relief does not mean:

“No tax payable, therefore no records required.”

Record keeping remains important.

17. Records Supporting Exempt Income and Reliefs

Where a business claims a particular exemption or relief, retain evidence showing that the conditions were met.

Depending on the circumstances, this can include records supporting:

Participation Exemption.
Foreign Permanent Establishment Exemption.
Qualifying Group Relief.
Business Restructuring Relief.
Tax Loss transfers.
Other applicable Corporate Tax treatments.

Do not keep only the final number.

Keep the evidence underlying the number.

18. Free Zone Corporate Tax Records

Free Zone businesses should not treat the seven-year record-keeping rule as a mainland-only requirement.

A Qualifying Free Zone Person needs records supporting its Corporate Tax position and continued satisfaction of relevant requirements.

Records may need to support matters such as:

Revenue.
Qualifying Income.
Non-Qualifying Revenue.
Activities.
Transactions with customers and Related Parties.
Substance.
Financial Statements.

Qualifying Free Zone Persons are also among the categories required to prepare and maintain audited Financial Statements under Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 for the applicable Tax Periods.

The exact documentation depends on the company’s activities and the Corporate Tax provisions applicable to it.

19. Exempt Persons Also Need Records

Being exempt from Corporate Tax does not automatically remove record-keeping obligations.

Article 56 requires an Exempt Person to maintain records that allow the FTA to readily verify its exempt status for seven years following the end of the relevant Tax Period.

The evidence required depends on why the Person is exempt.

The FTA has explicitly reminded businesses that Exempt Persons must maintain records enabling their exemption status to be verified.

Can Corporate Tax Records Be Kept Electronically?

Yes, records do not always need to remain in their original paper form.

However, the electronic record must satisfy the applicable requirements.

This area became clearer in 2026 when the FTA issued Decision No. 4 of 2026 on maintaining information contained in accounting records and commercial books.

Under that Decision, records must be complete and identical to the original documents, clear and legible, and accessible to the FTA upon request.

Where records are retained as an electronic copy or photocopy:

All data and details from the original must be retained.
The copy should contain all pages in the same order.
Partial scanning of a document is not accepted.
Electronic records must be clear and readable on a computer screen.
The FTA must be able to access the records on request.

Example: Scanning supplier invoices

If a five-page supplier contract supports a material Corporate Tax expense, scanning only the signature page is not sufficient merely because the remaining pages are available somewhere else.

The retained copy should preserve the complete document where that document forms part of the record being maintained.

What If Electronic Records Are Password-Protected?

FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 also addresses access to protected electronic records.

Where records or the systems containing them are protected by encryption or passwords, the Person must be able to provide the necessary encryption keys or passwords to enable FTA access when required.

This is an important practical issue.

A company should not retain tax records in a system that becomes inaccessible because:

The employee who knew the password left.
A software subscription ended.
The encryption key was lost.
The legacy accounting system can no longer be opened.

Retention means more than having a file somewhere.

The record must remain retrievable and usable.

Can an Accounting Firm or Cloud Provider Keep the Records?

A business can engage a third party to maintain records and commercial books.

However, FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 makes clear that the Person remains legally responsible for maintaining the records and ensuring their safety.

Therefore:

“Our accountant has the files”

is not a sufficient record-retention policy.

The business should know:

What records the provider holds.
Where they are stored.
How they can be retrieved.
What happens if the service relationship ends.
How backups are managed.
Whether historical data remains accessible.

The legal responsibility does not disappear because bookkeeping is outsourced.

Do Businesses Need to Keep Paper Originals?

Not necessarily in every case.

The Tax Procedures Executive Regulation permits records to be retained using original documents or by retaining information contained in original documents, subject to the applicable conditions.

Electronic or photocopied records should be capable of producing an easily readable copy and must enable the FTA to verify the Person’s tax obligations.

The newer FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 adds requirements concerning completeness, legibility and accessibility.

Businesses should therefore design electronic archiving around those requirements rather than simply scanning documents and deleting the originals without checking whether the retained version is complete.

What Language Should Corporate Tax Records Be Kept In?

Under the Tax Procedures Executive Regulation, the FTA may accept tax records and information submitted in English.

However, the Authority may request some or all of the documents to be translated into Arabic.

Where an Arabic translation is requested, the translation must comply with the applicable legal requirements and be provided within the period specified by the FTA.

A business with important contracts in another language should therefore consider whether it could obtain an appropriate translation if required.

Can the Record-Retention Period Become Longer?

Businesses should not automatically destroy Corporate Tax records as soon as seven years have passed.

The Corporate Tax Law establishes the seven-year baseline.

Separately, the Tax Procedures framework contains circumstances in which records may need to remain available for longer, including certain disputes, tax audits and other procedures.

Amendments to the Tax Procedures Executive Regulation effective from 1 April 2026 also introduced an additional two-year retention period for Tax Periods connected with a refund request submitted before expiry of the relevant limitation period where the FTA had not yet issued its determination.

The practical rule should be:

Do not run automatic deletion based only on the seven-year date if the business has an open audit, dispute, refund matter or another procedure requiring continued preservation.

MKCA’s article on UAE Tax Procedures Executive Regulation amendments provides additional context on procedural changes affecting UAE taxpayers.

A Practical Corporate Tax Evidence File

A well-organised company does not need to place every transaction into one enormous PDF.

A more useful approach is to maintain a structured archive for each Tax Period.

For example:

Folder	Typical contents
01 – Corporate Tax Return	Filed return, submission confirmation
02 – Tax Calculation	Final tax computation and adjustments
03 – Financial Statements	Final accounts and trial balance
04 – Revenue	Sales records and material revenue schedules
05 – Expenses	Supporting schedules for material deductions
06 – Assets	Fixed asset register and major transactions
07 – Financing	Loan and interest documentation
08 – Related Parties	Agreements and Transfer Pricing evidence
09 – Reliefs / Exemptions	Evidence supporting tax treatments claimed
10 – Tax Losses	Loss calculations and utilisation schedules
11 – Elections	Elections and supporting calculations
12 – FTA Correspondence	Relevant submissions and Authority correspondence

This is a practical organisational example, not an FTA-prescribed folder structure.

The aim is retrieval.

If the company cannot find the evidence several years later, merely having retained it somewhere provides limited practical protection.

Record Keeping for SMEs: Keep It Proportionate but Reliable

Good Corporate Tax record keeping does not mean a small business must create unnecessary paperwork.

The system should be proportionate to the business.

A small professional company may be able to maintain a strong record trail using:

Reliable cloud accounting software.
Organised digital invoices.
Bank feeds and reconciliations.
Customer and supplier contracts.
A year-end tax file.

A larger trading or construction company may need more detailed:

Inventory controls.
Project records.
Asset registers.
Contract documentation.
Related-party schedules.
Approval controls.

The legal objective remains the same: the business should be able to support its Corporate Tax Return and allow its Taxable Income to be readily determined.

Common Corporate Tax Record-Keeping Mistakes

Keeping only the Corporate Tax Return

The return contains the outcome.

It does not necessarily provide the evidence supporting the outcome.

Keeping the ledger but deleting source documents

An accounting entry should be supported by appropriate evidence.

Saving documents under employee email accounts

Records become difficult to retrieve when employees leave.

Use a controlled business archive.

Deleting records after five years

The general Tax Procedures framework contains five-year rules in some circumstances, but the Corporate Tax Law specifically establishes a seven-year retention requirement for relevant Corporate Tax records.

For Corporate Tax, businesses should apply the specific seven-year requirement.

Keeping unreadable scans

The 2026 FTA rules require electronic copies to remain clear, complete and accessible.

Retaining only the final spreadsheet

If a spreadsheet includes a Corporate Tax adjustment, retain enough evidence to explain the data and assumptions behind it.

Depending entirely on an external accountant

The Taxable Person remains responsible for its records even if a third party maintains them.

Failing to preserve evidence of elections or reliefs

A number without supporting facts may be difficult to defend several years later.

Corporate Tax Record-Keeping Checklist

Before closing each Tax Period, confirm the following:

Area	Review point
Financial Statements	Final Financial Statements retained
Trial balance	Final year-end trial balance saved
General ledger	Detailed ledger remains accessible
Revenue	Sales records support reported Revenue
Expenses	Material deductions have supporting documents
Bank	Bank statements and reconciliations retained
Assets	Asset register reconciles to accounts
Inventory	Stock records and year-end counts retained where relevant
Liabilities	Material liabilities supported
Payroll	Salary and employee cost records available
Contracts	Material agreements retained
Corporate Tax calculation	Final calculation and adjustments documented
Tax Return	Filed return and confirmation retained
Elections	Elections and supporting basis documented
Related Parties	Appropriate Transfer Pricing evidence retained
Tax losses	Loss creation and utilisation tracked
Reliefs / exemptions	Eligibility evidence retained
FTA correspondence	Relevant Authority communications archived
Electronic archive	Documents are complete and legible
Access	Records can still be retrieved from current and legacy systems
Retention date	Earliest deletion date documented and checked for extensions

For a broader annual compliance review, use MKCA’s Corporate Tax Compliance Checklist for UAE businesses alongside the record-retention process.

Who Should Own Corporate Tax Records?

Record keeping should have a clear owner.

In many SMEs, that will be the Finance Manager or Chief Accountant.

The process may also involve:

Tax team.
CFO.
Accounts payable.
Accounts receivable.
Payroll.
Procurement.
Company secretary.
External accountant or tax adviser.

The important point is accountability.

Someone should be responsible for confirming that the year-end tax archive is complete before a Tax Period is treated as closed.

A Good Year-End Record-Keeping Process

A practical workflow can be:

1. Close the accounting records

Complete reconciliations and finalise the trial balance.

2. Prepare the Financial Statements

Ensure the accounts used for the Corporate Tax calculation are final.

3. Prepare the Corporate Tax calculation

Document every material adjustment.

4. Build the evidence file

Connect adjustments and material balances to their supporting records.

5. File the Corporate Tax Return

Retain the final return and submission evidence.

6. Archive the period

Store records in a controlled location.

7. Assign the retention date

Record the relevant seven-year retention period.

8. Check for exceptions before deletion

Confirm there is no audit, dispute, refund or other matter requiring longer preservation.

This process helps prevent a common problem: preparing the tax return correctly today but being unable to prove the calculation several years later.

Frequently Asked Questions About UAE Corporate Tax Records

How long must Corporate Tax records be retained in the UAE?

Relevant Corporate Tax records and documents must generally be retained for seven years following the end of the Tax Period to which they relate.

Is the Corporate Tax retention period five years or seven years?

For Corporate Tax records covered by Article 56 of the Corporate Tax Law, the specific requirement is seven years.

The Tax Procedures Executive Regulation contains general record-retention rules, but it expressly applies those rules unless the relevant Tax Law provides otherwise. The Corporate Tax Law provides its own seven-year rule.

Do I need to submit all seven years of records with my Corporate Tax Return?

No general rule requires every retained record to be uploaded with each return.

The purpose of record keeping is to support the return, the tax calculation and other required submissions and to ensure information can be provided where required by the FTA.

Can Corporate Tax records be kept digitally?

Yes, subject to the applicable requirements.

Electronic copies should be complete, identical to the original information, legible and accessible when required.

Can we scan documents and destroy the paper copy?

Electronic retention is possible under the Tax Procedures framework, but the retained copy must satisfy the applicable requirements.

FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 requires electronic or photocopied records to preserve all data and details, remain legible and be accessible.

Businesses should confirm that their archiving process meets these requirements before disposing of original documents.

Do we need to keep bank statements?

Bank statements are among the examples identified in FTA Corporate Tax guidance as documents that may support business records.

Whether a particular bank record is material depends on the transactions and tax position it supports.

Do exempt businesses have to retain Corporate Tax records?

Yes.

An Exempt Person must retain records that enable the FTA to verify its exempt status for seven years following the end of the relevant Tax Period.

Does Small Business Relief remove the record-keeping obligation?

No.

Businesses using Small Business Relief should maintain documentation supporting the information reported and their eligibility for the relief.

Does outsourcing bookkeeping transfer record-keeping responsibility to the accountant?

No.

A third party may maintain records, but the Person remains legally responsible for maintaining and safeguarding them.

Do we need audited Financial Statements for Corporate Tax?

Not every Taxable Person is required to maintain audited Financial Statements.

For Tax Periods commencing on or after 1 January 2025, Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 requires audited Financial Statements for specified categories, including non-Tax Group Taxable Persons whose Revenue exceeds AED 50 million and Qualifying Free Zone Persons. Tax Groups are subject to the special-purpose audited Financial Statement requirement specified in the Decision.

Should records be deleted automatically after seven years?

Not without checking.

Open audits, disputes, refund matters or other applicable procedural requirements may require records to remain available for longer.

How MKCA Can Help With Corporate Tax Record Keeping

Corporate Tax record keeping works best when it is built into the accounting process rather than treated as a separate exercise after the Tax Return is prepared.

MKCA can support UAE businesses with areas such as:

Corporate Tax accounting review.
Tax computation support.
Review of supporting documentation.
Tax adjustment schedules.
Record-retention procedures.
Related-party and transaction review.
Financial statement and accounting reconciliations.
Corporate Tax compliance reviews.
Preparation for FTA information requests.

The objective is to create a clear evidence trail between the company’s accounting records and its Corporate Tax position.

Businesses that need support reviewing complex Corporate Tax treatments or documentation can use MKCA’s Corporate Tax Advisory services.

Conclusion

Corporate Tax record keeping in the UAE is not limited to storing a copy of the annual Tax Return.

A business needs enough records to explain its transactions, support the information reported to the FTA and allow its Taxable Income to be readily determined.

For Corporate Tax, the core retention period is seven years following the end of the relevant Tax Period.

The strongest approach is to maintain a structured evidence file containing the Financial Statements, accounting records, tax calculation and supporting documentation for material adjustments and tax positions.

Electronic storage can make this easier, provided records remain complete, legible and accessible.

The goal is simple:

If the business is asked several years from now to explain a Corporate Tax figure, the evidence should already exist and be easy to retrieve.