The short answer
UAE companies must keep accounting records that support every tax return, and corporate tax registrants keep them for at least seven years after each tax period. We keep your books monthly, reconcile every bank account and produce accounts ready for your auditor, your corporate tax return and the e-invoicing system.
How long must a UAE business keep its accounting records?
At least seven years after the end of each corporate tax period, covering transaction records, asset and liability registers and ownership records (Finance Middle East, on Article 56 of the Corporate Tax Law). The corporate tax return itself is due within nine months of the year end, so a 31 December 2025 year end files by 30 September 2026. Records kept monthly make that deadline routine instead of a scramble.
What does monthly bookkeeping include?
Everything needed to close each month: recording sales and purchases, reconciling every bank and card account, tracking what customers owe and what you owe suppliers, and coding each invoice for VAT. VAT returns are due within 28 days of the end of each tax period, usually a quarter (summary of the VAT legislation), so the VAT figures are built up month by month, not reconstructed at the deadline.
- Bank, card and payment-gateway reconciliations
- Sales, purchases, payables and receivables
- VAT coding and a draft return each quarter
- Fixed asset register and depreciation
“Business-to-Consumer Transactions shall not be subject to the Electronic Invoicing System”
Can you fix years of missing bookkeeping?
Yes. We rebuild the books from bank statements, invoices and contracts, period by period, until they reconcile. Backlogs usually surface when a company needs audited accounts: Qualifying Free Zone Persons and businesses with revenue above AED 50 million must keep audited financial statements for corporate tax (Ministerial Decision No. 82 of 2023), and free zones ask for them at licence renewal.
How does e-invoicing change bookkeeping?
Invoices become structured data sent through an accredited provider, so the data in your accounting system has to be clean from the start. Businesses with revenue of AED 50 million or more go live on 1 January 2027; smaller businesses on 1 July 2027, after appointing a provider by 31 March 2027 (Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025). We clean customer records, TRNs and invoice fields as part of monthly bookkeeping, and turn the same data into monthly management accounts.
What does an outsourced CFO do?
Finance leadership without a full-time salary: cash-flow forecasts, budgets, pricing decisions, bank and investor reporting, and tax planning at the right time of year. A common early decision is whether to elect Small Business Relief, open to resident businesses with revenue up to AED 3 million for tax periods ending by 31 December 2029 (Ministerial Decision No. 131), and how to grow past that threshold without surprises.
Frequently asked questions
Which accounting software do you work with?
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Most of the common cloud and desktop systems used in the UAE. If you have none yet, we recommend one that supports VAT and e-invoicing requirements.
Do I need an accountant if I elect Small Business Relief?
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Yes. The relief removes the tax, not the obligation to keep records, register and file a return each year.
How quickly can a backlog be cleared?
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It depends on how many years are missing and how complete the bank records are. We agree a period-by-period plan and fixed fee after reviewing a sample.
Sources
- FTA orders seven-year corporate tax record retention, sets nine-month filing deadline — Finance Middle East. Checked 17 October 2026.
- When and how should VAT returns be filed? — Zoho Books UAE (summary of the VAT legislation). Checked 17 October 2026.
- Ministerial Decision No. 82 of 2023 on audited financial statements (revenue above AED 50 million and Qualifying Free Zone Persons) — UAE Ministry of Finance. Checked 16 October 2026.
- Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025 on the Implementation of the Electronic Invoicing System — UAE Ministry of Finance. Checked 16 October 2026.
- Ministry of Finance extends Small Business Relief to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029 (Ministerial Decision No. 131) — WAM via Aletihad, 7 August 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.