Record retention: what it means for UAE businesses.

What record retention means

Also called: Record keeping period.

Record retention is the minimum period a business must keep its accounting records, invoices, contracts and supporting documents, in a form the authorities can inspect. In the UAE several laws set periods, and the longest one that applies is the one to follow.

The Commercial Companies Law requires every company to keep its accounting registers at its head office for at least five years from the end of its financial year. The Tax Procedures Executive Regulation sets a general tax period of five years after the tax period, seven years for real estate records, and adds four more years where there is a dispute or a tax audit. Corporate Tax overrides both: Article 56 requires a Taxable Person to keep records supporting its returns for seven years after the end of the tax period. The VAT Executive Regulation requires records relating to real estate to be kept for fifteen years.

For most SMEs the working rule is simple: keep everything that supports a Corporate Tax or VAT return for at least seven years, and longer where real estate, a dispute, an audit or a pending refund is involved.

How it works

• What to keep: the books of payments, receipts, purchases, sales, revenues and expenditure, including balance sheet and profit and loss accounts, wage records, fixed asset records, inventory records and stock counts, plus supporting invoices, contracts and correspondence.
• Corporate Tax: seven years after the end of the tax period for records supporting returns and Taxable Income (Article 56).
• Tax procedures: five years after the tax period for a Taxable Person, plus four years if a dispute or tax audit is under way or has been notified, and one year after a voluntary disclosure made in the fifth year.
• From 1 April 2026, the Ministry of Finance announced a further two years of retention for tax periods linked to a refund claim submitted before the statute of limitations expires.
• Records may be kept electronically if the copy matches the original and the Authority can access it. Company law allows electronic copies under ministerial rules.

Worked example

A Dubai contracting company has a 31 December year end. For its 2026 tax period it must keep Corporate Tax records until 31 December 2033. If it throws them out early and the Federal Tax Authority finds that required records were not kept, the Corporate Tax penalty table applies.

Penalty for failing to keep required records, first violation	AED 10,000
Penalty for a repeat violation within 24 months	AED 20,000
Total if the violation is repeated once	AED 30,000

Keeping records costs little next to the penalties, and missing records also weaken any defence in a tax audit.

Common mistakes

• Deleting records after five years because that is the company law period, when Corporate Tax requires seven.
• Keeping only an accounting software backup that nobody can open after the subscription ends. The records must stay accessible to the Authority.
• Treating real estate records like any other file. Tax procedures require seven years and the VAT rules fifteen years for real estate records.

The law

• Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, as amended, Article 56 (Record Keeping, seven years)
• Cabinet Decision No. 74 of 2023, Executive Regulation of the Tax Procedures Law, Articles 2, 3 and 4
• Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017, Executive Regulation of the VAT law, as amended, Article 71 (fifteen years for real estate records)
• Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 on Commercial Companies, Article 26 (accounting registers kept five years at the head office)
• Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023 on Administrative Penalties for Corporate Tax, as amended, Table, item 1 (failure to keep records)
• Cabinet Decision No. 40 of 2017 on Administrative Penalties (VAT and excise), as amended, Table No. 1, item 1 (failure to keep records)

Frequently asked questions

Can we keep scanned copies and throw away paper originals?

The Tax Procedures Executive Regulation accepts records kept as photocopies or electronic copies if the information matches the original and the Authority can access it. Check any sector rules before destroying originals.

Does the seven year Corporate Tax period apply to exempt businesses too?

Yes, in a narrower form. Article 56 requires an Exempt Person to keep records that show its exempt status for seven years after the end of the tax period.

Related terms

Audit trail · General ledger · Voluntary disclosure · Tax invoice · Year-end close. See every term in the UAE tax glossary.

For the full picture, read our guide: Five FTA Audit Triggers Every UAE SME Should Avoid.

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