The return takes a day. The records take seven years.
Corporate tax turned UAE bookkeeping from an internal habit into something you have to be able to produce on request — years after the event. TaxKitab keeps those books month by month from Pune, and runs the whole India side for founders and companies that still have an entity, a team or income here.
We are an Indian accounting firm and do not hold UAE licensure. We do not advise on UAE tax or file on your behalf there.
Corporate tax changed what counts as “good enough”.
Before, books were for you. Now they are the evidence behind a filed position — and the obligation to produce them outlives the filing by years.
It already applies to you
UAE corporate tax applies to financial years beginning on or after 1 June 2023. For most businesses the first affected year has already closed, which means the record-keeping clock has already started running.
Seven years, not seven months
The Federal Tax Authority has stated that both Taxable Persons and Exempt Persons must retain the relevant records for at least seven years from the end of the tax period they relate to.
Reconstruction stops working
A shoebox that gets sorted once a year is fine until someone asks why a figure was treated the way it was. Monthly books answer that in minutes. Rebuilt books answer it with guesswork.
Position as on 16 October 2026, from the UAE Ministry of Finance and the Federal Tax Authority. Rates, reliefs and how any of it applies to your specific entity are matters for your UAE-licensed advisor — not for us.
Two different reasons people call this desk.
They are separate engagements. It helps to know which one you are before the first call.
You need the books kept, properly
- A mainland or free zone company with no in-house accountant, or one who left
- Books that currently get written up in a rush before something is due
- A bank, a board or an investor who wants numbers monthly rather than annually
- Records your UAE advisor can work from without first having to tidy them
- A year-end pack handed over complete, with the open items listed
You need the India side run
- An Indian entity you own, or one you are about to set up
- A team in India paid from the Gulf, with provident fund, state insurance and salary withholding
- GST registration and monthly returns
- Withholding on payments made into India, and the treaty position behind them
- Income tax returns, residential status, property sale withholding and repatriation
Most Gulf clients turn out to be both. One team handles both sides, so the India answer does not arrive three weeks after the UAE question.
We keep the books. Your UAE advisor files.
Plenty of offshore firms let the impression form that they handle UAE tax. We would rather say it plainly: we are an Indian accounting firm and we hold no UAE licence. Corporate tax registration, return filing, VAT, free zone and licensing matters, advice on UAE tax positions and any correspondence with the authorities all stay with your UAE-licensed advisor. What we do is everything underneath — the accounting that their filing rests on, kept to a standard that makes their job short rather than archaeological. We work alongside them, not around them, and the boundary is written into the engagement letter so nobody discovers it later. The India side, by contrast, is entirely ours.
What actually happens each month.
Capture and coding
- Bank feeds and card statements reviewed and categorised
- Supplier invoices and receipts matched to entries
- Queries raised as one list, not a drip of emails
Reconciliation
- Bank and card accounts tied out
- Supplier statements agreed to the ledger
- Differences chased while they are still small
Payables and receivables
- Bills entered and scheduled
- Payment runs prepared for your approval
- Receivables ageing you can actually collect from
The close
- Accruals, prepayments and adjusting entries
- Balance sheet accounts reviewed, not rolled forward
- Books closed on an agreed date
What reaches you
- Profit and loss, balance sheet and cash position
- Compared against last month and against budget
- A short note on anything that looks unusual
The advisor pack
- Schedules and supporting workpapers
- Open items listed rather than buried
- Delivered in the format your UAE advisor asks for
The part other UAE providers send away
A Gulf accountant will refer your Indian entity, your India payroll and your NRI return to somebody else, and you end up coordinating three firms. We are the Indian firm. Entity setup, books, GST, payroll, MCA filings, withholding, treaty positions, residential status, property sale withholding and repatriation paperwork sit with the same team that keeps your UAE books — which is the whole reason this desk exists.
Yours, and your data stays in it
Zoho Books, QuickBooks, Xero or Tally — whichever you already run. We work inside your own subscription on named logins that you create, at the permission level you set, and you can revoke that access at any time. No second copy of your ledger sits on our side, and every entry carries the name of the person who made it.
Four steps, and the first one costs nothing.
Situation call
What the business is, what the India connection is, who currently does what, and how far behind the records are. We tell you what applies and what does not.
Written scope
What sits with us, what stays with your UAE advisor, and what it costs — agreed in writing before anything begins.
Handover
Existing records, software access and any pending India filings reviewed, with the actual position verified rather than assumed. Catch-up is quoted as its own job.
Monthly rhythm
Books closed on an agreed date, India returns filed on time, and a reporting pack that reaches you without being chased.
What Gulf clients ask first.
Do you file our UAE corporate tax or VAT returns?
No. We are an Indian firm and hold no UAE licence, so those filings stay with your UAE-licensed advisor. We keep the accounting underneath in order so their work is straightforward, and we handle everything on the India side ourselves.
How far back do we actually need to be able to produce records?
The Federal Tax Authority has stated that Taxable Persons and Exempt Persons must retain the relevant records for at least seven years from the end of the tax period concerned. What exactly that covers for your entity is a question for your UAE advisor; keeping it all in a retrievable state is the part we take on.
We pay an Indian supplier. Do we need to withhold tax?
It depends on what the payment is for, whether the income is sourced in India and the treaty position that applies. It is worth settling before the payment rather than after, because the consequence of not withholding generally lands on the payer.
Does having a team in India create a taxable presence for us?
It can, depending on what the team does and how the arrangement is structured. This is the question most worth asking early, because restructuring afterwards is far harder than setting it up correctly the first time.
I moved to the UAE. Do I still file in India?
Often yes, where you have Indian income, property or certain assets. Residential status changes the scope of what India can tax rather than removing the obligation to file — and it is worth checking, because a zero-tax home country makes the deemed residency rule relevant.
Is the time difference a problem?
It is ninety minutes. India is 1½ hours ahead of the UAE, so almost the entire working day overlaps — a question asked at ten is generally answered by eleven, not tomorrow. We also keep an office in Muscat for the wider Gulf.
Before you hand the books to anyone.
UAE Bookkeeping Requirements Under Corporate Tax
What has to be kept, and in what state.
How Long to Keep Business Records: US, UK and UAE
Retention periods compared side by side.
Setting Up a Business in India as an NRI
Structure, registrations and the sequence that works.
Individual matters are covered in depth on NRI services, and company-side coordination on the Global Desk. Other country desks: UK · USA · Germany.
Tell us about the business.
What the company does, whether there's an India connection, and what's currently in place. We'll map it and come back within a few hours. Prefer to talk now? WhatsApp or call us directly.
Ninety minutes away.
Tell us what the business is and what your India connection looks like. We'll map what applies, tell you what stays with your UAE advisor, and confirm scope within a few hours.