Filing
The 28th is the deadline. One day later still costs
Friday 28 August is the next VAT deadline for anyone whose tax period ended on 31 July. Filing a day late and paying a day late are different charges, and they stack.
Managing Partner, UAE VAT and tax consultancy
In short
A UAE VAT return and the payable tax are both due by the 28th day after the tax period ends, under Article 64 of Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017. A late return costs AED 1,000 the first time, or AED 2,000 if repeated within 24 months. Unpaid tax attracts 14 percent a year, charged monthly, under Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025. File even if you cannot pay.
The short version
- Both the VAT201 and the payable tax are due on the 28th day after the period ends.
- A late return is AED 1,000 the first time, or AED 2,000 if repeated inside 24 months.
- Unpaid tax is charged at 14 percent a year, monthly, under Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025.
- The FTA Payment User Guide tells you to pay at least 24 hours before the due date.
Friday 28 August belongs to anyone whose period ended 31 July
If your tax period ended on 31 July, Friday 28 August is the date. The return has to be in. The payable tax has to have reached the Authority.
Both. Not one of them.
That rule sits in Article 64 of Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017, the VAT Executive Regulation. A tax return shall be delivered to the Authority no later than the 28th day following the end of the relevant tax period, or by such other date as the Authority directs. The article is headed Tax Return and Payment. The FTA filing page states the related payment is due inside the same 28 days. The Authority has already posted Friday 28 August 2026 as the next VAT filing deadline.
The VAT Law only points at that Regulation. Article 72 of Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 says you submit the return at the end of each tax period, within the time limits the Regulation sets. Article 73 does the same job for payment.
Not every registrant files on 28 August. A calendar-quarter business whose period ended 30 June already had 28 July. The August date belongs to monthly filers for July, and to the quarterly stagger that closed on 31 July. The government portal puts the standard period at a quarter for businesses below AED 150 million of annual turnover, and a month at or above that figure, with the FTA free to assign something else.
Look at the period end on the VAT certificate, or in EmaraTax, before you treat Friday as yours.
The filing fine is fixed. The payment charge keeps running
A late return is a fixed fine under the April 2026 penalty table. Unpaid tax is something else: 14 percent a year, charged monthly, for as long as the balance sits there.
The two rows live in Cabinet Decision No. 40 of 2017, as rewritten by Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025, in force since 14 April 2026.
Miss the return and the first late filing costs AED 1,000. A second miss inside 24 months is AED 2,000. That is the whole filing penalty. It does not grow with the tax figure.
Unpaid tax is charged at 14 percent a year on whatever payable amount is still outstanding. The old 2 percent on day one, then 4 percent a month, capped at 300 percent, is gone. Anything still quoting that cap is describing a regime that ended in April.
A nil return filed late still costs AED 1,000. There is no payable tax, so there is no 14 percent. The filing fine does not care that Box 14 was zero.
Holding the return does not pause the payment clock. The payment clock starts from the day after the 28th, on the tax that should have been paid. The two charges sit on top of each other when both are late.
AED 72,000, one day late, and the number that follows
Take a trading company on the May to July quarterly stagger. Period ended 31 July 2026. Output tax AED 186,000. Recoverable input tax AED 114,000. Payable tax AED 72,000. Due date Friday 28 August.
This is an example. The arithmetic is what the current rates produce on a static unpaid balance.
| What happened | Extra cost |
|---|---|
| Filed 28 August; GIBAN landed 29 August | AED 840 |
| Held the return until 15 September, paid that day | AED 1,840 |
| Filed on time, unpaid for 3 months | AED 2,520 |
| Filed on time, unpaid for 6 months | AED 5,040 |
| Late return, first time, and unpaid for 6 months | AED 6,040 |
| Late return, and the previous return was also late | AED 2,000 filing, plus the payment charge |
| Nil return filed late, first time | AED 1,000 |
| Example total, late file plus 6 months unpaid | AED 6,040 |
AED 72,000 times 14 percent divided by twelve is AED 840. That is one month of the late-payment charge. Six months is AED 5,040. Add a first-time late return and the six-month case is AED 6,040 before anyone argues about the supplies.
The first row was a clearing problem. Waiting until mid-September added the filing fine on top of a charge that was already going to run.
The expensive habit is waiting for the cash
In our experience the expensive decision is not the missed GIBAN. It is the finance manager who will not file until the cash is in the account.
They have the return ready. Box 14 is a number they cannot currently pay. They wait, because declaring a liability they cannot settle feels like admitting something. The 28th goes by. Then another week. Then the customer pays and they file and transfer on the same afternoon.
What that bought them is the AED 1,000 filing penalty on top of the late-payment charge that was going to run anyway.
Filing does not trigger a collection visit. It declares the liability. The Authority already expects the return. Silence is the louder signal.
File the return. Pay what you can. Partial payment shrinks the base the 14 percent runs on. Pay AED 50,000 of that AED 72,000 on the 28th and leave AED 22,000 outstanding, and one month of the charge is about AED 257 instead of AED 840. The allocation setting in EmaraTax decides whether a part-payment hits tax first or penalties first. Set it before you are in a month where it matters.
A dormant company that keeps filing late nils is a different version of the same habit. The answer there is usually deregistration, not another missed 28th.
A wrong figure is not a late-return problem
Sometimes the deadline is not the problem. The figure is.
If you spot the error before the 28th, correct the return and file the corrected one. That is still an on-time return.
After the 28th, you are in voluntary disclosure territory once the tax difference is above AED 10,000, and you have 20 business days from becoming aware. The cost of a self-filed disclosure since 14 April 2026 is 1 percent a month on the underpaid tax. Wait until the FTA writes to you about an audit and a fixed 15 percent sits on top of that 1 percent.
Do not use a late original return as a way to fix last period. Last period already has a filed figure, or it does not. Either way the correction has its own form.
If you are staring at a blank VAT201 and you are not sure what belongs in which box, the box-by-box walkthrough is the faster read than guessing under a deadline.
If you are already on the 29th
The 29th is not a planning day. It is a stop-the-accrual day.
If the return is still unfiled, file it that morning. The filing penalty is already the first-time AED 1,000, or AED 2,000 if you were late in the last 24 months. Waiting another week does not reduce it. It only keeps the payment charge running if tax is due.
The return can be in and the money still missing. Pay what you can the same day. Then confirm the settlement in EmaraTax. Then write down the unpaid remainder and the date, because the next monthly charge falls on the same date the month after.
One point is genuinely unsettled, and it matters for a one-day miss. Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025 sets the late-payment charge at 14 percent a year, applied monthly, on the unsettled payable tax. The FTA has not published a worked example of a payment that lands on the 29th. Secondary write-ups treat a one-day miss as a full first month, which on AED 72,000 is AED 840. That is the figure we use in files, because that is what we see posted to the dashboard. Until the Authority prints the one-day case, treat a miss as a month, not as a day.
Do not file a second, better return to overwrite the first. That is not how corrections work.
A short checklist
If 28 August is your date, do this today.
- Confirm the tax period end in EmaraTax. If it is not 31 July, this Friday is not yours.
- Finish the return. File it. Do not wait for the cash.
- Start the GIBAN transfer at least a working day before Friday, and check Transaction History the next morning.
- If you cannot pay in full, pay a part and leave a note of the remainder.
- If the 28th has already passed, file this morning and pay today. The monthly charge is the thing you can still shorten.
Then keep the next 28th in the diary as a payment date, three working days early, not as a filing date.
Questions we get asked
When is the UAE VAT return due?
A UAE VAT return must reach the Federal Tax Authority no later than the 28th day after the end of the tax period, under Article 64 of Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017. The payable tax shown on that return is due on the same date. The FTA lists Friday 28 August 2026 as the next filing deadline for periods that ended on 31 July.
What is the penalty for filing a VAT return late in the UAE?
AED 1,000 for the first late return, and AED 2,000 if the same person files late again within 24 months of the last late return. That is the filing row in Cabinet Decision No. 40 of 2017 as amended by Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025, in force from 14 April 2026. A late nil return attracts the same fine.
What is the penalty for paying VAT late in the UAE?
Since 14 April 2026 the late-payment charge is 14 percent a year, applied monthly, on the unsettled payable tax. Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025 replaced the old 2 percent plus 4 percent a month, capped at 300 percent. There is no published ceiling on the new charge. Filing the return on time does not stop it.
Can I file my UAE VAT return if I cannot pay?
Yes. Filing and payment are separate obligations with the same due date under Article 64 of Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017. A late return adds AED 1,000 or AED 2,000. The 14 percent charge on unpaid tax runs whether you filed or not. Holding the return only adds the filing fine. Pay what you can.
Does everyone file a VAT return on 28 August 2026?
No. The 28th is 28 days after your own tax period ends. Friday 28 August 2026 is the deadline for periods that ended on 31 July 2026, which is monthly filers for July and the quarterly stagger that closed that day. A business whose period ended 30 June was due on 28 July. Confirm the period end in EmaraTax.
Sources of record
- Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017, VAT Executive Regulation, Article 64 (tax return and payment)
- Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 on Value Added Tax, Article 72 (submission of tax returns)
- Cabinet Decision No. 129 of 2025 amending Cabinet Decision No. 40 of 2017, in force 14 April 2026
- Federal Tax Authority, Filing VAT Returns and Making Payments
- Federal Tax Authority Payment User Guide (English V6.3), GIBAN settlement and 24-hour recommendation
Written by Safvan, Managing Partner, UAE VAT and tax consultancy, from work carried out for UAE-registered clients. General information about UAE VAT, current at 19 August 2026. It is not tax advice and does not create a client relationship — see our disclaimer. Confirm your own position with the FTA, or with us, before acting.
