EL7.AI
GeneralMedium•11 November 2026•
3 min read

UAE VAT and Excise Tax Revenue Reaches AED 46 Billion in 2025

Key Facts

1Combined revenue from value-added tax and excise tax reached AED 46 billion in 2025, compared with AED 41 billion in 2024.
2The authority completed more than 245,000 corporate tax registration applications in 2025.
3The Tax Registration Department reviewed about 1.7 million transactions in 2025, an increase of more than 20%.
4Corporate tax applies to financial years beginning on or after 1 June 2023.

The UAE collected AED 46 billion from value-added tax and excise tax in 2025, compared with AED 41 billion in 2024, according to the Federal Tax Authority. The figure covers the two taxes combined and does not represent corporate tax revenue. The authority reported the figures in its 2025 annual report. It also said it completed more than 245,000 corporate tax registration applications during the year. This places indirect tax receipts and tax registration activity in a separate context from corporate tax revenue figures, which could not be verified.

The authority said receipts from value-added tax and excise tax rose to AED 46 billion in 2025 from AED 41 billion a year earlier. Based on the figures reported, that represents an increase of AED 5 billion between the two periods. The total combines the two types of tax, so the figures published in this statement do not break out revenue from each tax separately. The authority cited the figure in its annual report alongside data on registration and tax transactions. The year-on-year comparison provides a direct measure of growth in combined revenue, without the authority attributing the change to a specific factor in its published statement.

On corporate tax, the authority completed more than 245,000 registration applications in 2025, according to the annual report. This figure counts completed applications and does not describe cash tax receipts. It therefore differs from the total of AED 46 billion, which covers value-added tax and excise tax combined. The data come as the federal corporate tax applies to financial years beginning on or after 1 June 2023. The registration figure shows the administrative workload associated with implementing the system, while its revenue remains separate from the indirect tax figures in the report.

The Tax Registration Department also reviewed about 1.7 million transactions in 2025, an increase of more than 20%, the authority said. The total refers to transactions reviewed by the department, not corporate tax registration applications alone. This activity came alongside the completion of more than 245,000 corporate registration applications over the same period. The comparison indicates that the number of transactions handled by the department grew by more than 20%, while the total it reviewed reached about 1.7 million. The report thus places revenue and registration figures within a broader picture of the authority’s administrative processing during the year.

The federal corporate tax applies to financial years beginning on or after 1 June 2023, according to the UAE Ministry of Finance. Taxable persons must file a return for each tax period within 9 months of its end, and the same general deadline applies to paying tax due. This framework sets the timing for filing returns and meeting obligations after each tax period ends. In estimates cited by the Ministry of Finance from the International Monetary Fund, the overall fiscal surplus is expected to reach about 5% of GDP in 2025 and 2026, before moderating to 4.5% over the medium term. The estimates linked a gradual improvement in the non-oil primary deficit over the medium term to the introduction of corporate income tax and indirect tax reforms.