How we research and calculate

Which sources count

For each rule we go to the body that sets it, in this order:

1. Law: federal laws and decree-laws, Cabinet and ministerial decisions, and authority decisions, in the official text or the authority's own consolidated version.
2. The authority that applies the law: guides, clarifications and service pages of the Federal Tax Authority, the ministries, the Central Bank of the UAE and the other federal and emirate bodies.
3. Official statistics: the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre, emirate statistics centres and the Central Bank, for figures about the economy.
4. A provider's own page, with the date we read it, and only for something that provider alone sets, such as a free zone's own fee.

Where two official pages disagree, we follow the legal text, note the difference in the register and keep the question open until it is settled. Where an English version is an unofficial translation, the source title says so.

The facts register

The register is a single file that holds every UAE-specific figure on the site. Each entry records:

• the rule, stated as the source states it;
• the figure itself, such as a rate, an amount in AED, a number of days or a date;
• who or what it applies to;
• the source's title, publisher and web address;
• the date we last opened the source;
• notes, such as the article number, the date a rule took effect or the rule it replaced.

Guides show the key figures in fact boxes built from the register. This is the entry for the standard VAT rate:

Standard VAT rate

5%

UAE VAT is charged at a standard rate of 5% on taxable supplies and imports of goods and services, unless a supply is zero-rated or exempt.

If a figure cannot be confirmed on an official page, it stays out of the register and off the site.

How our calculators work

The calculators take every rate, threshold and limit from the same register and show the formula and the assumptions on each page. They work in AED and run in your browser. Where the law leaves a step open, for example how a monthly salary is turned into a daily or hourly wage, the calculator states the assumption it uses and lets you change it.

Every calculator follows the same rules:

• Figures from the register. Each rate, threshold, cap and date is read from the facts register when the site is built. If a figure is missing, or no longer reads as expected, the site does not build until it is fixed. There are no fallback numbers in the code.
• Tested before publication. Each calculation is a small, separate function, tested against the examples the authorities publish where there are any, against hand-checked cases, at every threshold boundary and with invalid input.
• Working shown. Each calculator page sets out the formula, the figures with their sources and the date we checked them, a worked example computed by the same functions, and what the calculator assumes and leaves out.
• Rounding only where the rules round. Amounts are kept to the fils, and rounding is applied only where the law or the authority sets it, as for VAT and excise tax.
• On your device. The calculations run in your browser, and what you enter is not sent to us.

Calculator by calculator

What each calculator works out, how, and where its limits are. The page of each calculator gives the formula, the official figures and a worked example.

Corporate tax calculator Corporate tax

How it works. Splits the taxable income of one tax period at the zero-rate band and applies the standard rate to the part above it. For a qualifying free zone person it taxes qualifying income and other taxable income at their own rates, with no band. In both cases it shows the effective rate.

Limits. You enter taxable income after the adjustments the law requires: the calculator does not work out exempt income, deductions or loss relief. It applies the full band to a tax period of any length, assumes that a free zone person meets every condition, and leaves out the top-up tax for large multinational groups.

Small business relief checker Corporate tax

How it works. Tests each condition of the relief in turn: residence, not being a qualifying free zone person or a member of a large multinational group, revenue at or below the limit in the tax period and in every earlier one, and a tax period that ends before the relief expires. It lists every condition that fails.

Limits. It takes your answers as given and cannot see whether a business was split to keep each part under the limit, which the FTA can treat as tax avoidance. It shows whether the election is open, not whether making it is worthwhile.

Corporate tax return due date Corporate tax

How it works. Counts the months the law allows from the day after the tax period ends, which reproduces the FTA's own published example, and applies the one postponement for early tax periods found on the FTA's website.

Limits. It shows the date the rule gives, without moving it for a weekend or a public holiday, and assumes that the tax period entered is the one the FTA approved. The count of days left uses the date on your device and needs JavaScript.

Free zone de minimis test Corporate tax

How it works. Takes out the revenue the FTA leaves out of the test, sets the limit at the lower of the percentage of revenue and the fixed cap, and compares non-qualifying revenue with it to the fils. It shows the headroom left below the limit.

Limits. Which revenue is qualifying, non-qualifying or left out is for the business to establish; the calculator applies the test to the figures entered. It checks one of the conditions of free zone status, for one tax period at a time.

Late tax payment penalty calculator Corporate tax

How it works. Finds each monthly charge date from the day after the due date, using the month-end rule of the corporate tax decision or of the VAT and excise decision, and charges one twelfth of the annual rate on the unpaid tax for each month or part of a month up to the payment date.

Limits. It assumes that the whole amount stays unpaid until a single payment date, covers VAT and excise tax only under the current penalty table, and leaves out other penalties and any waiver by the FTA. Its reading of how the annual rate is charged month by month is set out on its page.

VAT calculator VAT and excise

How it works. Adds VAT at the standard rate to a price without VAT, or takes the VAT out of a VAT-inclusive price using the VAT fraction rather than the rate. It rounds the VAT to the nearest fils and works out the other price from the rounded VAT, so the three amounts always add up.

Limits. It does not decide whether a supply is zero-rated, exempt or outside the scope of VAT. It rounds one amount, so an invoice of many lines rounded line by line can differ by a fils or two. VAT on imported goods is in the customs duty calculator.

VAT registration checker VAT and excise

How it works. Compares a business's taxable supplies and imports over the look-back period, and those expected over the look-ahead period, with the mandatory and voluntary thresholds, and gives the last day to apply, counting the day the obligation arises as the first day, as the FTA's guide does.

Limits. It takes the totals you enter and does not decide which supplies count. A total exactly at a threshold does not cross it. Exceptions for businesses with only zero-rated supplies, tax groups and deregistration are not covered.

Excise tax calculator VAT and excise

How it works. For tobacco, vaping products and energy drinks it applies the rate to the excise price: the higher of the FTA's list price and the retail price less the tax it contains, with the minimum price for vaping liquids. For sweetened drinks it multiplies the litres by the amount for the drink's sugar band. It rounds as the Cabinet decision sets.

Limits. It does not hold the FTA's price list or the existing minimum prices for cigarettes and water-pipe tobacco, so the list price has to be entered. Energy drink concentrates, which follow a separate method, and the rules in force before the current ones are not covered.

Customs duty calculator Trade and customs

How it works. Adds cost, insurance and freight into the CIF value, applies the duty rate for the goods, then charges import VAT on the value including the duty and any excise tax, and shows the landed total.

Limits. It does not look up HS codes, exemptions or rules of origin: it uses the rate and the origin you choose. It applies the tobacco rate as a percentage only, works in dirhams, and leaves out declaration, port and broker fees.

USD to AED converter UAE economy

How it works. Multiplies or divides by the official pegged rate, which it does not round, and shows what a quoted exchange rate costs compared with the official one.

Limits. It covers the US dollar only, leaves out transfer fees and card charges, and uses the rate in our facts register, not a historical rate.

Gratuity calculator Employment and payroll

How it works. Counts service from the first to the last day of work, less unpaid absence, turns it into years, applies the days of basic wage the law sets for the early years and for later years, and caps the total. Part-time service is reduced in proportion to the contract hours.

Limits. The law does not say how to turn a monthly wage into a day's wage, so the calculator uses the law's standard month by default and lets you switch to a calendar year. It applies the cap to the basic wage, applies the current law to service before it took effect (with a note), shows the gross figure before deductions, and does not cover DIFC, ADGM or government employers.

Overtime pay calculator Employment and payroll

How it works. Works out a basic hourly wage from the monthly basic wage and the normal daily hours, then applies the minimum increases the law sets for overtime, night overtime and work on a rest day or a public holiday.

Limits. The divisor for the hourly wage is an assumption you can change. The increases are the legal minimums, so a contract that pays more is understated. The daily limit on overtime is checked only as an average over the days entered.

Leave salary calculator Employment and payroll

How it works. Works out the annual leave built up over the length of service, following the law's steps for the first months, the first year and the later years, takes away the leave already used, and values the balance on the basic wage.

Limits. It values unused leave only, counts complete months in the first year, assumes full-time work and applies the current rules to the whole period of service, including any service before the current law.

ILOE insurance calculator Employment and payroll

How it works. Places the worker in a category by basic salary, works out the premium over the policy period with VAT added, and works out the monthly benefit as a share of the average basic salary, capped for the category, over the months of one claim.

Limits. A salary exactly at the category threshold goes in the lower category, as on the scheme's own website. Service charges of some subscription channels are left out, and the calculator does not track earlier claims or the limit over a working life.

Golden visa eligibility checker Investing and residency

How it works. Compares the amounts entered with ICP's published minimums for the investor, real estate, entrepreneur and skilled professional routes, one route at a time, and shows which categories may fit.

Limits. It does not cover the categories that do not depend on amounts, does not combine routes, and does not check documents, the source of funds or health insurance. ICP does not say how some cases are treated, such as mortgaged property, and the result is not a decision by ICP.

Worked examples

Amounts, salaries, revenues and dates in our worked examples are illustrations chosen to make the arithmetic easy to follow. They are not real businesses or people, and each example says so.

Reviews and updates

A guide's "reviewed" date is the last time the whole guide was checked against its sources. We check a guide again when one of its sources changes, when a new law or decision takes effect, when a reader reports a possible error, or when we update the guide. Changes to a fact or figure are noted on the corrections page.

What we do not cover

• News, market prices and live exchange rates.
• Prices of setup packages, licences or bank accounts presented as market rates.
• Rankings of free zones, banks or service providers.
• Advice for your own situation.

Our editorial policy covers our standards and how a guide is made.