UAE businesses keep tax records for seven years for corporate tax and five years for VAT — with a fifteen-year rule for real-estate records. The clocks start at the end of the tax period each record relates to, not at the date of the document. Keep them for less, and an FTA audit can turn into an assessment against records you no longer have; keep them well, and an audit becomes a filing exercise.
The retention periods, side by side
| Regime | Retention period | Clock starts | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate tax | 7 years after the end of the tax period | End of each tax period | Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 (accounting records provisions); FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 on rules for accounting records |
| VAT | 5 years after the end of the tax period | End of each tax period | Article 72, Executive Regulation (Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017), Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 |
| VAT — real estate | 15 years after the end of the tax period | End of each tax period | Article 72, Executive Regulation (Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017) |
| Payroll / WPS and employment records | Per labour-law retention requirements — commonly treated alongside the 7-year tax window in practice | — | Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation rules |
| Free-zone licence records | Per regulator terms (e.g. DMCC's annual audit submission cycle) | — | Relevant free-zone authority |
The longest applicable period wins: a property-owning business keeps its real-estate records for fifteen years even though the rest of its VAT file is five.
What "accounting records" actually means
Under the corporate tax law and the FTA's rules for accounting records and commercial books, the file must be enough to establish the taxable income and support every figure in the return:
- ledgers, journals and the financial statements prepared from them;
- invoices, credit notes, contracts and agreements;
- bank statements and payment records;
- inventory, production and asset records where relevant;
- the tax return itself, with schedules, and any elections (for example Small Business Relief);
- related-party and transfer-pricing documentation where Article 55 of Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 requires it.
Records may be kept electronically, provided they remain accessible and readable for the full retention period — a scanned PDF archive stored in the UAE satisfies the rule; a dead hard drive does not.
The penalty for keeping too little
Failure to maintain the required records carries an administrative penalty of AED 10,000 for the first violation and AED 50,000 for a repeat within 24 months under the administrative-penalty framework (Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023, as amended by Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025). The bigger risk is silent: without records, the FTA can estimate taxable income, and an estimate is rarely in the taxpayer's favour.
A retention system that survives an audit
- Tag every record with its tax period. Retention runs from period end — an invoice from March 2025 belongs to the 2025 corporate tax year and lives until the end of 2032.
- Keep the two clocks separately. VAT files run on five years (fifteen for real estate), corporate tax files on seven. One folder per regime per period beats one giant archive.
- Store in the UAE, digitally, redundantly. Both regimes require records to remain accessible; an off-site cloud archive plus a local copy handles continuity.
- Capture the supplier-verification evidence with the invoice. Since 1 October 2026, supplier verification evidence is part of the VAT record set — dated TRN lookups and payment records go in the same folder.
- Archive, do not delete, at year seven. Moving expired records to cold storage (or destroying them on a documented schedule) is fine; losing them by accident is the violation.
FAQs
How long must UAE companies keep accounting records for corporate tax?
Seven years after the end of the tax period the records relate to, under Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 and FTA Decision No. 4 of 2026 on the rules for accounting records and commercial books.
How long is the VAT record-keeping period in the UAE?
Five years after the end of the tax period under Article 72 of the VAT Executive Regulation (Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017) — and fifteen years for records connected to real estate.
What is the penalty for not keeping tax records in the UAE?
AED 10,000 for the first violation and AED 50,000 for a repeat within 24 months under Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023, as amended. Separately, missing records let the FTA estimate taxable income in an assessment.
Let the records maintain themselves
Retention is only hard when the underlying books are disorganised. Finanshels keeps UAE businesses' records audit-ready from day one — period-tagged, digitally archived, and reconciled — so the seven-year question answers itself. Book a consultation and we will audit your current record setup against both clocks.
Last reviewed: 18 October 2026, by Gautam Sanoj, Senior Tax Advisor at Finanshels. Retention periods are date-scoped to the instruments cited; verify current guidance on tax.gov.ae before acting.
