Small Business Relief must end
Small Business Relief ends on 31 December 2026
If your business has been sitting under the relief with informal record-keeping, this is the date that changes how you have to operate — and it arrives before the e-invoicing deadline, not after.
What the relief did
Small Business Relief allowed qualifying businesses to be treated as having no taxable income for a tax period, which in practice meant a much lighter compliance burden.
What changes
The relief is available only for tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026. From 1 January 2027, 9% corporate tax applies to taxable income above AED 375,000.
The tax rate is not really the problem. The problem is that you cannot calculate taxable income without accounting records that hold up — and a business that has been running on spreadsheets, BOTIM messages and a folder of delivery notes does not have those records today.
What that means in practice
- You need books that reconcile, from an opening position that can be supported.
- You need a chart of accounts that produces a meaningful profit figure, not just a bank balance.
- You need your fixed assets, accruals, prepayments and related-party balances identified rather than ignored.
- You need all of that before the first return is prepared, not while it is being prepared.
Why it is worth dealing with now
Two reasons. First, catch-up work done calmly over a quarter costs a fraction of the same work done in a panic. Second, the e-invoicing deadlines follow immediately afterwards — provider appointment by 31 March 2027, go-live by 1 July 2027 — and both projects need the same foundation: clean, coded, reconciled records. Doing them in sequence with one firm is considerably cheaper than doing them twice.
Before 31 December 2026
- Establish a supportable opening position
- Reconcile the records for the current period
- Confirm your corporate tax registration status
- Identify assets, accruals and related-party balances
Through 2027
- Monthly bookkeeping that keeps the position current
- First corporate tax return prepared from real books
- E-invoicing readiness on the same clean data
- Provider appointed by 31 March, live by 1 July
General information only. This page summarises publicly available guidance so a business owner can understand it. It is not personalised tax, legal or financial advice, and your own obligations depend on your circumstances. Confirm your position with the relevant authority or a qualified adviser before acting.
Records behind? It is fixable, and there is still time.
Tell us how many months are unreconciled and roughly how many transactions a month. We will quote the catch-up as a fixed fee before starting.