The records the FTA expects you to keep — and for how long
Corporate Tax and VAT both require records to be kept for years after the period ends. A plain list of what to keep, in what form, and the penalties for not having it.
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- How long must UAE companies keep records?
- Corporate Tax records for 7 years after the end of the tax period they relate to, and VAT records for 5 years (15 years for real-estate records).
- What is the penalty for not keeping records?
- AED 10,000 the first time and AED 20,000 for a repeat.
- Does the FTA accept electronic records?
- Yes, provided they are legible, complete and can be produced on request.
Both tax laws put the burden of proof on the business: if the FTA asks how a figure on a return was arrived at, the records have to show it. The retention periods are long.
| Corporate Tax records | 7 years after the end of the tax period they relate to |
| VAT records | 5 years after the end of the tax period (15 years for real-estate records) |
| Penalty for not keeping records | AED 10,000 the first time, AED 20,000 for a repeat |
What to keep
- Financial statements and the general ledger, trial balance and journals behind them.
- Sales and purchase invoices, credit notes, receipts and bank statements.
- Contracts, licences and shareholder resolutions — especially for related-party arrangements and management fees.
- The tax computation for each period, with working papers showing every adjustment.
- Transfer-pricing documentation where thresholds are met, and the QFZP analysis for free zone companies.
- Payroll and WPS records, and inventory counts for trading companies.
How we help: Monthly bookkeeping — clean, audit-ready books every month.
Format
Electronic records are acceptable provided they are legible, complete and can be produced on request. A cloud accounting system with attached source documents satisfies this for most small businesses: the records stay organised as they are created, not reconstructed years later.
If your records for earlier years are incomplete, a catch-up bookkeeping exercise rebuilds them from bank statements and invoices before an FTA query makes it urgent.