DMCC (Dubai Multi Commodities Centre) companies with a financial year ending 31 December 2025 had 180 days to file audited accounts, meaning the end of June. This is the third consecutive extension, after 2024 and 2025, and like the others it arrives mid-cycle: it is not an entitlement for future years. Each company should read the date shown on its own member portal before relying on it. Three days later comes the Corporate Tax return due 30 September, which rests on the same figures.
What happened
The DMCC (Dubai Multi Commodities Centre) guidelines on the submission of audited financial statements, last updated on 29 April 2025, give free zone companies 180 days from the end of their financial year to upload accounts certified by an auditor on DMCC's approved auditors list to the member portal. For a financial year ending 31 December 2025 that deadline fell on 29 June 2026. Four Dubai audit and advisory firms — ProAct Chartered Accountants, which published on 20 July 2026, Shuraa Tax, Flying Colour Tax and Saif Audit — consistently report that DMCC has moved the filing window to 27 September 2026, repeating the three-month extension granted in 2024 and 2025. As at 12 September we have found no public notice on dmcc.ae confirming this: the news therefore remains attributable to the firms reporting it, and the date that governs is the one each company sees on its own member portal. Note also that 27 September 2026 is a Sunday, a non-working day in the UAE: the portal stays open, auditors' offices do not.
What changes in practice
Companies that have not yet filed — and which were formally late from the end of June — now have fifteen calendar days, eleven of them working days. The filing is not a simple upload: the auditor must appear on DMCC's approved auditors list, and a report signed by an auditor outside that list is rejected even when the figures are correct. The rejection reason auditors report most often is more mundane: the share capital stated in the accounts does not match the figure on the licence, because a capital increase or change of shareholders was never updated with DMCC. Given that the extensions of the past three years have all arrived after the cycle had started, none of the sources describes this as a stable rule: for financial year 2026 the deadline to plan for remains the 180-day one.
Who it applies to
All companies incorporated in DMCC with a financial year ending 31 December 2025, including dormant companies and those with minimal activity: the obligation to file audited accounts does not depend on turnover, and exemptions exist only for specific licence categories, to be verified individually. DMCC is one of the most widely used free zones for trading and professional services companies, so the matter concerns a large share of businesses set up in Dubai between 2021 and 2024. For companies with a different year-end the deadline is still counted from the 180 days, and the extension does not apply to them.
The exposure
The financial penalty is the lesser part. DMCC does not renew the licence until the accounts have been filed and accepted, and behind the licence sit the residence visas of shareholders and employees, bank facilities and contracts that require a valid licence: a company reaching renewal without accepted accounts finds everything blocked at once. The second risk is one of timing: the same accounts feed the Corporate Tax return for financial year 2025, due to the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) by 30 September 2026, three days later. A company that files with DMCC on the 27th using figures different from those declared to the FTA on the 30th carries a discrepancy that the first review will surface. To be clear: companies that uploaded their accounts in June need do nothing, and those with accounts ready and signed by an approved auditor gain nothing by waiting for the deadline.
What to do now
First, on Monday 14 September: log in to the DMCC member portal, read the filing deadline displayed for your company — that is the one that counts — and save a screenshot. Second: check that the appointed auditor is on DMCC's approved auditors list and, if the accounts are not yet finalised, confirm the engagement the same day, because approved auditors' diaries are full during these fifteen days. Third, before uploading: compare the share capital in the accounts with the figure printed on the licence and, if they differ, update the licence before filing rather than after a rejection. Finally, for companies with a 31 December 2025 year-end: use the same figures from the accounts for the Corporate Tax return due 30 September, so that both deadlines are closed with a single file.
Sources
- https://dmcc.ae/hubfs/website%20support%20documents/Guidelines-Audited%20Financial%20Statements%20Submission.pdf
- https://proactfs.com/dmcc-audit-deadline-2026/
- https://www.shuraatax.com/dmcc-audit-deadline/
- https://www.flyingcolourtax.com/blog/dmcc-audit-deadline-2026/
Published 12 September 2026 on the basis of public sources and official United Arab Emirates instruments. This is not legal or tax advice. Verify your position with a qualified professional before acting.