United Arab Emirates public holidays 2026, VAT rate and tax data
United Arab Emirates: VAT rate 5% since 1 Jan 2018; 14 public holidays in 2026 (next: Commemoration Day (Martyrs' Day) — fixed, 1 Dec 2026); corporate tax rate 9%; policy interest rate 3.9%; inflation rate (CPI) 2%.
12 series, each cited to the official source it was verified against; most recently verified 28 Oct 2026. Currency AED.
verified recentlyre-verification due soonstaleColour is the age of the last check against the series' own update cycle.
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{ "country": "AE", "series": "vat", "value": 5, "unit": "percent", "effective_from": "2018-01-01", "last_confirmed": "2026-10-26", "source": { "name": "Federal Decree-Law No. (8) of 2017 on Value Added Tax, Article (3) Ta…", "url": "https://tax.gov.ae/DataFolder/Files/Pdf/VAT-Decree-Law-No-8-of-2017.pdf" } }
Excerpt, from the same data as this page. This endpoint is $0.003 a call by x402 or MPP, no signup. With a free key, try POST /v1/answers/vat {"country":"ae","amount":1000}.
United Arab Emirates public holidays 2026
14 days in 2026; next: Commemoration Day (Martyrs' Day) — fixed on 1 Dec 2026. Official source: u.ae (Official Platform of the UAE Government) · last verified 24 Jul 2026
Fixed by law 1 Confirmed 3 Estimated 10
| Date | Holiday | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Jan 2026 Thu | New Year's Day (Gregorian) — fixed | Fixed by law | u.ae (Official Platform of the UAE… |
| 19 Mar 2026 Thu | Eid Al Fitr holiday, day 1 (29 Ramadan) — estimated, moon-sighting dependent | Estimated | u.ae (Official Platform of the UAE… |
| 20 Mar 2026 Fri | Eid Al Fitr, day 2 (1 Shawwal) — estimated, moon-sighting dependent | Estimated | u.ae (Official Platform of the UAE… |
| 21 Mar 2026 Sat | Eid Al Fitr, day 3 (2 Shawwal) — estimated, moon-sighting dependent | Estimated | u.ae (Official Platform of the UAE… |
| 22 Mar 2026 Sun | Eid Al Fitr, day 4 (3 Shawwal) — estimated, moon-sighting dependent | Estimated | u.ae (Official Platform of the UAE… |
| 26 May 2026 Tue | Arafah (Arafat) Day (9 Dhu al-Hijjah) — estimated, moon-sighting dependent | Estimated | u.ae (Official Platform of the UAE… |
| 27 May 2026 Wed | Eid Al Adha, day 1 (10 Dhu al-Hijjah) — estimated, moon-sighting dependent | Estimated | u.ae (Official Platform of the UAE… |
| 28 May 2026 Thu | Eid Al Adha, day 2 (11 Dhu al-Hijjah) — estimated, moon-sighting dependent | Estimated | u.ae (Official Platform of the UAE… |
| 29 May 2026 Fri | Eid Al Adha, day 3 (12 Dhu al-Hijjah) — estimated, moon-sighting dependent | Estimated | u.ae (Official Platform of the UAE… |
| 16 Jun 2026 Tue | Hijri (Islamic) New Year, 1 Muharram 1448 — estimated, moon-sighting dependent | Estimated | u.ae (Official Platform of the UAE… |
| 25 Aug 2026 Tue | Prophet Muhammad's Birthday (Mawlid), 12 Rabi al-Awwal 1448 — estimated, moon-sighting dependent | Estimated | u.ae (Official Platform of the UAE… |
| 1 Dec 2026 Tue | Commemoration Day (Martyrs' Day) — fixed | Confirmed | u.ae (Official Platform of the UAE… |
| 2 Dec 2026 Wed | UAE National Day, day 1 — fixed | Confirmed | u.ae (Official Platform of the UAE… |
| 3 Dec 2026 Thu | UAE National Day, day 2 — fixed | Confirmed | u.ae (Official Platform of the UAE… |
Status is read from the record: fixed by law follows from a standing rule (a fixed date or the Easter computus); confirmed is dated in the cited official calendar and not flagged provisional; estimated is provisional or moon-sighting dependent; substitute stands in for a statutory day that fell on a weekend or was moved. Hover a status for the reason.
Every current United Arab Emirates value
Rate schedules and breakdowns
Withholding tax rates
0% across 3 withholding taxes — no single rate · in force from 2023-06-01 · Official source: Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 on the Taxation of Corporations and… · last verified 9 Oct 2026
Rates by payment type
| key | label | rate | applies to | effective from | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dividends | Dividends paid to non-residents | 0 | dividends and other profit distributions paid by UAE companies to non-resident persons | 2023-06-01 | Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022… |
| No withholding is applied in practice: the statutory rate is 0% and no category has been activated by Cabinet decision. Dividends are paid gross. | |||||
| interest | Interest paid to non-residents | 0 | interest from UAE sources paid to non-resident persons | 2023-06-01 | Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022… |
| Interest is paid gross; no withholding obligation arises at 0%. | |||||
| royalties | Royalties paid to non-residents | 0 | royalties and licence fees from UAE sources paid to non-resident persons | 2023-06-01 | Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022… |
| Royalties are paid gross; no withholding obligation arises at 0%. Note that a non-resident with a UAE Permanent Establishment or nexus may still owe Corporate Tax by assessment - that is a different mechanism from withholding. | |||||
Statutory social-insurance contributions
0–26% across 10 contribution branches · in force from 2023-12-01 · Official source: Federal Decree-Law No. (57) of 2023 Concerning Pension and Social Security… · last verified 8 Aug 2026
| key | label | rate total | rate employee | rate employer | unit | base | currency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gpssa_pension_2023 | GPSSA pension and social security — Federal Decree-Law 57/2023 regime (المعاشات والتأمينات الاجتماعية, General Pension and Social Security Authority) | 26 | 11 | 15 | percent | "Subscription account salary". Private sector (Art. 5(2)): the wage determined by the employment contract, not less than AED 3,000 and not more than AED 70,000 per month. Government sector (Art. 5(1)(a)): basic monthly salary plus cost-of-living allowance, social allowance for children, social allowance for the National, and housing allowance for the grade (annual housing allowance divided by 12), capped at AED 100,000; AED 150,000 for Prime Minister/deputies/ministers and equivalent ranks (Art. 5(1)(b)). | AED |
| NATIONALS ONLY. Art. 1 defines "Insured" as "Every national person who works for an Employer", and the private-sector Employer as one "who employs national employees". Expatriates are entirely outside this scheme — there is no employee pension deduction and no employer pension… | |||||||
| gpssa_pension_1999 | GPSSA pension and social security — Federal Law 7/1999 regime (still operative in parallel) | 20 | 5 | 15 | percent | "Subscription Account Salary". Private sector (Art. 1, para (d)): the wage specified by the employment contract; if below AED 1,000 per month that floor applies, and if above AED 50,000 that ceiling applies. Government sector: basic salary plus living-expense allowance, social allowance for children, social allowance for UAE nationals and accommodation allowance for the grade. | AED |
| NATIONALS ONLY (Art. 1: "The Insured: Every UAE national for whom these articles of the law are applicable"). This law was NOT repealed by the 2023 decree-law — the two run in parallel and a payroll engine must route each Emirati by their first-registration date, not by today's… | |||||||
| unemployment_insurance_cat1 | Involuntary Loss of Employment insurance (ILOE) — First Insurance Category | 5 | 5 | 0 | currency per month | Flat premium, not a percentage. Banded by "Subscription Salary", defined in Art. 1 as the basic monthly wage of the worker (or basic monthly salary of the employee). First category applies where subscription salary is AED 16,000 or less. | AED |
| APPLIES REGARDLESS OF NATIONALITY — this is the one mandatory branch that covers expatriates, and it is the answer to "do expats pay anything?". Federal Decree-Law 13/2022 Art. 3(1) covers "all workers of the private and federal government sectors in the State". NOT A PAYROLL… | |||||||
| unemployment_insurance_cat2 | Involuntary Loss of Employment insurance (ILOE) — Second Insurance Category | 10 | 10 | 0 | currency per month | Flat premium, not a percentage. Second category applies where the subscription salary (basic monthly wage) exceeds AED 16,000. | AED |
| Same scope, same exclusions and same non-payroll collection mechanism as the first category. VAT at 5% on top (AED 10.50/month equivalent). Maximum benefit AED 20,000/month, up to 3 months per claim. Art. 7(2) lets the Cabinet amend the subscription and compensation values and… | |||||||
| adpf_pension_2023 | Abu Dhabi Pension Fund (ADPF) — members joining from 01/12/2023 | 26 | 11 | 15 | percent | "Wage (Pensionable Salary)". Private sector: the pensionable salary specified in the employment contract, minimum AED 6,000 and maximum AED 100,000. Government sector: basic salary plus cost-of-living allowance, social allowance for children, social allowance for citizens, housing allowance and Etihad allowance, capped at AED 100,000 (AED 150,000 for Chairman/deputy/members of the Executive Council and heads of government departments). | AED |
| THE BIGGEST SUBDIVISION TRAP IN THIS COUNTRY. Emiratis employed in the PRIVATE sector in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi register with ADPF, not GPSSA — ADPF is not a government-sector-only fund, and the amended wage definition expressly covers "Active Members working in the private… | |||||||
| adpf_pension_2000 | Abu Dhabi Pension Fund (ADPF) — members registered before 01/12/2023 | 20 | 5 | 15 | percent | Same "Wage (Pensionable Salary)" definition as amended by Law 18/2023: private sector minimum AED 6,000, maximum AED 100,000. | AED |
| Nationals only. Applies to Abu Dhabi members — government and private sector — with contributions or registration in the Fund before 01/12/2023. Art. 15(1)(c) adds a 6% annual contribution from the Emirate's general budget: this is a THIRD-PARTY state contribution to fund… | |||||||
| difc_dews | DIFC Employee Workplace Savings (DEWS) / Qualifying Scheme Core Benefits — Dubai International Financial Centre only | 5.83 | 0 | 5.83 | percent | Monthly Basic Wage. Art. 66(8)(b): any calculation to establish an Employee's Monthly Basic Wage shall not be less than fifty percent (50%) of the Employee's Monthly Wage. No ceiling. | AED |
| EMPLOYER-ONLY, MANDATORY, MONTHLY — and easy to miss because it sits in a financial free zone with its own employment law rather than in federal law. Rate STEPS: 5.83% for the first 5 years of service (inclusive of service before the Qualifying Scheme Commencement Date), then… | |||||||
| work_injury_occupational_disease | Work injury and occupational disease | — | 0 | — | percent | No separate contribution base — no distinct branch contribution exists. | AED |
| Included so the branch is visibly present rather than silently missing. There is NO separately rated accident-insurance branch in the UAE and no employer-risk-rated levy: nothing extra to compute on top of the pension percentages. For expatriates there is no contribution at all… | |||||||
| employer_health_insurance | Mandatory employer-provided health insurance | — | 0 | — | percent | Not rate-based. Premium is priced per employee by a licensed insurer against a regulated minimum benefit package. | AED |
| Employer-only obligation, and a genuine payroll-adjacent cost, but there is NO statutory percentage and no national rate: the employer buys a policy and the premium is set by the insurer. Returning a rate here would be an invention. Cover is a precondition for issuing or… | |||||||
| end_of_service_gratuity | End-of-service gratuity (non-national private-sector employees, mainland) | — | 0 | — | percent | Not a contribution. An accrued termination entitlement measured in days of basic wage per year of service. | AED |
| Included because it is what economically replaces a pension for the expatriate majority, and buyers will ask where the expat retirement provision is. It is NOT a social-insurance contribution: nothing is withheld from the employee, nothing is remitted to an authority monthly… | |||||||
Tax filing deadlines
3 deadline rules · in force from — · Official source: 3 rules, each cited to its own official source; series-level citation is the… · last verified 28 Oct 2026
| key | tax | obligation | label | frequency | applies to | confidence | last confirmed | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vat-return-quarterly | vat | return_and_payment | VAT return and payment — quarterly tax periods | quarterly | VAT registrants with a three-month tax period. | primary | 2026-10-28 | Filing VAT Returns And Making Payments |
| 28 calendar days after the end of the tax period. The FTA assigns each registrant's tax period and quarter staggering (quarters need not end on calendar quarter ends); calendar quarters are the default here. Quarterly is the standard period under the VAT Executive Regulation… | ||||||||
| vat-return-monthly | vat | return_and_payment | VAT return and payment — monthly tax periods | monthly | VAT registrants assigned a monthly tax period by the FTA. | primary | 2026-10-28 | Filing VAT Returns And Making Payments |
| Same 28-day rule as the quarterly rule. | ||||||||
| ct-return-and-payment | cit | return_and_payment | Corporate Tax return and payment | annual | Taxable Persons subject to Corporate Tax (Exempt Persons required to register file an annual declaration on the same timeline). | primary | 2026-10-28 | FTA calls on all persons subject to… |
| Nine months after the tax period end; modelled as the last day of the ninth month after the period-end month (31 December -> 30 September, which the same FTA release confirms for 2025 year ends). Exact only for month-end tax periods. The UAE Corporate Tax has no… | ||||||||
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