Previous agent handled your tax? How to check your EmaraTax position

Many UAE companies were registered for tax by the set-up firm, a PRO or an earlier accountant. When that relationship ends, owners are often left with the same questions: do we already have a tax registration number, was last year's return filed, and how do we get into the account ourselves?

Why it is worth checking now

• A Corporate Tax return is due for every tax period — within nine months of the period end — even when the result is a loss or nil. Filing late costs AED 500 for each month or part of a month for the first 12 months, then AED 1,000 a month.
• Registering late for Corporate Tax carries an AED 10,000 penalty, although it can be waived in some cases — see how the waiver works.
• Late VAT registration also costs AED 10,000, and VAT is due from the date the business should have been registered.

Step 1 — find out what already exists

Ask the former agent, in writing, for:

• the EmaraTax login for the company, or at least the email address the account was opened with;
• the Corporate Tax registration certificate and, if registered, the VAT registration certificate;
• copies of every return filed and the payment receipts.

Registration certificates are issued electronically. Since 1 January 2026 the FTA issues them free of charge with a QR code that can be used to verify registration status, so a certificate you already hold is a quick way to confirm that a registration exists.

Step 2 — bring the account under the company's control

The FTA states that its services are available through UAE Pass, and it warns never to share your password or OTP code with anyone. The account should sit with the company's own email address and the authorised signatory's access — not with a former adviser's mailbox.

If the former agent does not respond, contact the FTA through its free enquiry service — via EmaraTax, the call centre on 800 82923 or [email protected] — with the trade licence and the authorised signatory's Emirates ID or passport, and ask how to regain access to the company's account.

Step 3 — check what has and has not been filed

Once you are in the account, check, for each tax:

• whether the company is registered, and from which date;
• the tax periods set up on the account;
• which returns have been submitted, and which payments made;
• any penalties or notices shown on the account.

Step 4 — fix the gaps in the right order

• Not registered? Register straight away. See Corporate Tax registration and VAT registration.
• Return missing? File it as soon as the accounts allow — the late-filing penalty grows each month. If the books were never kept, catch-up bookkeeping comes first.
• A filed return was wrong? A voluntary disclosure corrects it, generally at a lower cost than an error the FTA finds first.
• Penalty already imposed? A reconsideration request can be made within 40 business days of the notice, where there are genuine grounds.

Avoiding the same problem next time

• Keep the EmaraTax account under the company's email and the authorised signatory's UAE Pass.
• Keep your own copy of every certificate, return and payment receipt with the company's records — seven years for Corporate Tax and at least five for VAT.
• Agree in writing with any adviser that the account and records remain the company's.

If you are taking over from a previous agent, we start by reviewing what is already on the account, then quote only for what is still missing. Tell us about your company.