Zoho Books added UAE Corporate Tax features in 2024. Configuration is straightforward but the choices you make at setup determine how cleanly your CT-101 return generates each year. Here is the one-time setup checklist.
What you'll learn
→ Tax registration profile → Tax adjustment templates → Period closure → Filing through EmaraTaxTax registration profile
Settings → Taxes → Corporate Tax. Enter your CT registration number (issued by the FTA after CT registration), the financial year (usually January to December), and your CT category, Standard, Small Business Relief, or Qualifying Free Zone Person. The category drives the calculation.
If you are a QFZP, you also configure the qualifying / non-qualifying income split. Zoho creates separate income tracking categories, assign each income account or item to one of these categories so the year-end report cleanly segregates them.
Tax adjustment templates
Zoho includes templates for standard CT adjustments: depreciation timing differences, entertainment expenses (50% disallowed), donations, prior-period losses brought forward, foreign tax credit. Review each template and confirm or modify based on your circumstances.
Add custom adjustments where required, for example, a one-off provision that is not yet deductible. Document the rationale on each adjustment; auditors and the FTA may review.
Period closure
End of financial year: run Reports → Corporate Tax → CT Computation. The report gives you taxable profit, the AED 375K threshold, the 9% calculation, and the adjustments. Compare line-by-line to your accountant's working papers before submitting to the FTA.
Lock the financial year once the CT-101 is submitted. Like VAT period locking, this prevents back-dated changes that would make your filed return inconsistent with your books. To unlock, you need an authorised user, adds friction by design.
Filing through EmaraTax
Zoho generates the CT-101 figures but does not yet submit to EmaraTax directly. Export the computation report, then enter the figures in EmaraTax manually. Save the EmaraTax acknowledgment in Zoho's Documents module, keeps the audit trail in one place.
Plan to file 60-90 days before the deadline. CT-101 is due 9 months after year-end. A January-December year files by 30 September of the following year. Last-minute filings risk system congestion and missed deadlines.
This guide is general information, not professional advice. For situations that involve specific facts, talk to your accountant, or hire one of ours from the marketplace.