When the Authority comes asking
An audit is a verification, not an accusation — but businesses that treat it as an emergency usually make it worse, by answering questions nobody asked.
An FTA audit is not an accusation. It is a verification process, and businesses that treat it as an emergency generally make it worse — by answering questions that were not asked, producing documents that were not requested, and volunteering explanations that create new lines of enquiry.
What actually happens
- NoticeThe Authority notifies the business of an audit, ordinarily with advance notice of the date and, where applicable, the place. The notice defines the scope — which taxes, which periods.
- Information requestsRecords, returns, invoices, contracts and reconciliations for the periods under audit. Under the Tax Procedures Law, records must be kept and made available in the required form.
- Fieldwork or desk reviewDepending on the case, conducted at the business premises or remotely, with follow-up questions.
- AssessmentWhere the Authority disagrees with the returns filed, a tax assessment and, where applicable, administrative penalty assessment is issued.
- ChallengeA business that disagrees can seek reconsideration, and beyond that the dispute route runs through the Tax Disputes Resolution Committee and the courts. Each stage has its own prescribed deadline, and missing one is generally fatal to the challenge.
What we do
- Draft the correspondence. We prepare your responses so they are considered, consistent and within scope, and deal with the Authority alongside you where you authorise it — so your team is not improvising under pressure. Formal representation before the FTA as a registered Tax Agent is a separate appointment; we will tell you if your matter needs one.
- Assemble the file properly — returns reconciled to the ledger, the ledger reconciled to source documents, and the working papers that show how each figure was arrived at.
- Find the exposure first. Before responding, we run our own review of the periods under audit, so you know what the Authority is likely to find before they find it — and can decide about voluntary disclosure while that is still an option.
- Answer what was asked. Precisely, completely, and no more.
- Review any assessment for technical and arithmetic error before it is accepted, and advise on whether reconsideration is worth pursuing.
Nothing about an audit is improved by delay, and almost everything is improved by records that were kept properly at the time. The businesses that come through audits cleanly are not the ones with the cleverest arguments — they are the ones whose VAT returns reconcile to their ledger, whose input tax is supported by valid tax invoices, and who can produce the working papers on request.
Where a matter moves beyond tax procedure into formal dispute or litigation, it goes to Neo Legal.
Reviewed 18 August 2026 by Ahmed Nabil Selim. UAE tax rates, thresholds and deadlines change — confirm the position for your period before relying on it.
FTA audit support — frequently asked questions
The Tax Procedures Law requires the Authority to notify the person of an audit in advance, ordinarily specifying the timing and location, though the legislation also contemplates circumstances where prior notice is not required. Because the notice period and the exceptions are prescribed and can change, the practical answer is that the notice itself tells you the scope and timing — and the moment it arrives is the moment to start preparing, not to start reconstructing records.
The value of a voluntary disclosure lies in making it before the Authority identifies the error, and the ability to make one — and its consequences — is affected once an audit is under way. That is precisely why the first step on receiving an audit notice should be an internal review of the periods in scope, so any decision about disclosure is taken with the facts and while the option is most useful. This is a point on which timing genuinely changes the outcome, so take advice immediately rather than after the first information request.
Broadly, whatever supports the returns filed: the accounting records, the general ledger and trial balance, sales and purchase listings, tax invoices issued and received, credit notes, import and export documentation, contracts, bank statements and the reconciliations linking the returns to the ledger. Records must be retained for the periods the legislation prescribes — generally seven years for Corporate Tax, with comparable retention under VAT. A business that cannot produce the reconciliation between its return and its ledger is in difficulty regardless of whether the return was right.
Is this your situation?
Tell us how the business is set up and where things currently stand. We will tell you what is required and what it costs to have it handled properly.
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