Why does the FTA keep rejecting my financial statements for CT deregistration?

Usually the statements don't clearly show the tax-period start and end dates on their face, don't cover the period from the start of the first tax period to the cessation date, or aren't signed and stamped. Without those, the officer can't confirm the statements meet the requirement and issues repeated additional-information requests.

What financial statements does the FTA need for Corporate Tax deregistration?

Statements (profit & loss and balance sheet) covering from the start of your first Corporate Tax period through to the cessation date, with the period dates shown on the face of the statements, prepared on an IFRS basis, and signed and stamped. A full external audit is generally not required.

Does my cessation date have to match the trade licence cancellation date?

Yes. The cessation date entered on the deregistration application must match the date the trade licence was cancelled, as shown on the cancellation certificate. A mismatch triggers an FTA query.

Why the FTA Keeps Rejecting Your Financial Statements in Corporate Tax Deregistration (2026)

Q: Can a dormant company avoid full financial statements?

Yes. For a dormant company the FTA usually accepts a signed and stamped declaration of no assets, no liabilities and no revenues for the relevant period instead of full statements.

⚡ Quick answer

The most common reason a Corporate Tax deregistration stalls on repeated “additional information” notices is the financial statements — not a missing document. The FTA wants statements that (1) clearly show the tax-period start and end dates on the face of the statements, (2) cover the correct period — from the start of your first tax period through to the cessation date, (3) are signed and stamped, and (4) carry a cessation date that matches your trade-licence cancellation date. If the company was dormant, the FTA will accept a signed/stamped declaration of no assets, no liabilities and no revenues instead. Miss any of these and the application can loop for months.

The pattern is always the same. You apply to deregister, attach the financial statements, and a few weeks later the FTA replies: “additional information required.” You upload revised statements. Same notice. You revise again. Same notice. In a real case we reviewed, that loop ran for the better part of a year before the deregistration was finally approved.

Here is the part owners miss: the application almost never stalls because a document is missing. It stalls because of how the financial statements are dated and prepared. Fix those four things and the loop ends.

The real blocker

It’s the financial statements — four things the FTA checks

Period dates on the face of the statements. The profit & loss must state the period it covers (“for the period [start] to [end]”) and the balance sheet its “as at” date. Without them, the officer cannot confirm the statements cover the required period — and will say the statements are “not for the period 2024 unless the start and end dates are mentioned.”
Correct coverage. Statements should run from the start of your first Corporate Tax period through to the cessation date. The FTA’s standard note asks for the “financial activity for 2024 and 1 January 2025 onward to the date of cessation.”
The right start date. The period must match your actual tax period. If your year is calendar, it starts 01/01 — and the FTA will bounce statements that start 01/02. (If you genuinely run a non-calendar year, that is a separate trap — see the related guide below.)
Signed and stamped. The FTA repeatedly asks for statements that are signed and stamped before it will accept them.

⚠️ The 01/01-vs-01/02 trap

One real deregistration looped for months because the statements started 01/02/2024 while the officer required 01/01/2024. That single date mismatch — often caused by a non-calendar financial year that was never made explicit — is enough to keep a clean deregistration stuck on “clarify / amend.”

What “good” looks like

The statement header that gets accepted

Financial statements — what the FTA wants to see illustrative

P&L period stated on the face01 Jan 2024 – [cessation date]

Balance sheet “as at” date[cessation date]

CoverageFirst tax period → cessation

Signed & stampedYes

Period dates missing / wrong startRejected

A detail that’s easy to miss

Your cessation date must match the licence cancellation date

The very first thing the FTA checks is that the date of cessation on your application equals the date the trade licence was cancelled. If they differ, expect a query before the officer even looks at your numbers. Pull the cancellation certificate, read off the exact date, and enter that — not the date you stopped trading, signed the resolution, or filed.

✅ Dormant company? Use the declaration letter

If the company had no activity — a tell-tale sign is a balance sheet whose figures are identical year on year — you don’t necessarily need full statements. The FTA will accept a signed and stamped declaration of no assets, no liabilities and no revenues for the relevant period. For a genuinely dormant entity, this is usually the faster route.

“Signed and stamped” is not “audited”

For deregistration, “signed and stamped” means the statements bear the company’s signature and stamp (or an authorised signatory’s). A full external audit / auditor’s signature is generally not required for this step — management-prepared IFRS statements, properly dated and signed, are usually accepted.

The officer isn’t rejecting your business — they’re rejecting an undated page. Put the period on the face of the statements, match the cessation date to the licence, sign and stamp it, and the “additional information” loop stops.

~11 months

A real loop caused by FS dating

Signed + stamped

Non-negotiable for the FTA

Dormant? 1 letter

No-assets / no-liabilities declaration

Before you resubmit

The checklist that ends the loop

Put the period start and end dates on the face of the P&L (and the “as at” date on the balance sheet).
Make the period start where your tax period actually starts, and run it through to the cessation date.
Sign and stamp every statement.
Set the application’s cessation date equal to the licence cancellation date.
If dormant, submit the signed/stamped no-assets declaration instead of full statements.

Sources & authority: Corporate Tax deregistration is governed by Article 52 of Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 and the FTA’s deregistration-timeline decision (FTA Decision No. 6 of 2023). The FTA reviews the final return and supporting financial statements before approval and issues “additional information” requests where the statements do not clearly evidence the relevant tax period up to the cessation date. Document specifics (period dating, signed/stamped statements, the no-assets/no-liabilities declaration alternative) reflect common FTA practice and can vary by case and officer — confirm current requirements with the FTA or a registered tax agent.

Stuck in the “additional information” loop?

As an FTA-registered tax agent, Fastlane prepares correctly dated, signed and stamped financial statements to the cessation date (or the no-assets declaration for dormant companies), reconciles your cessation date to the licence, and resubmits — CT deregistration from AED 399.

→ Corporate Tax Deregistration — from AED 399 💬 WhatsApp Us

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Corporate Tax Deregistration

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Accounting & Bookkeeping

IFRS statements with clean period dates — so deregistration is a formality, not a fight.

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FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Why does the FTA keep asking for more information on my deregistration?

Usually because the financial statements don’t clearly show the tax-period start and end dates, don’t cover the period up to cessation, or aren’t signed and stamped — so the officer can’t confirm they meet the requirement and asks again.

Do the financial statements need to be audited?

Generally no auditor’s signature is required for deregistration. The FTA wants statements that are signed and stamped by the company, prepared on an IFRS basis, and dated for the correct period — not necessarily a full external audit.

What if my company was dormant?

You can usually submit a signed and stamped declaration of no assets, no liabilities and no revenues for the relevant period instead of full statements. For a genuinely dormant company this is often the quicker route.

Why does the FTA reject statements starting 01/02 instead of 01/01?

Because the period must match your actual tax period. For a calendar-year company the period starts 01/01; a 01/02 start looks wrong unless you genuinely have a non-calendar financial year, which must be made explicit. See the related guide on non-calendar years.

What cessation date do I enter?

The date your trade licence was cancelled, exactly as shown on the cancellation certificate. The application’s cessation date must match the licence cancellation date.

Nithin Pathak

Founder & Managing Partner — Fastlane Management Consultancy · FTA-Registered Tax Agent · MoE-Approved Auditor

Fastlane Management Consultancy prepares correctly dated, signed and stamped financial statements to the cessation date, handles FTA “additional information” queries, and files the final return — so Corporate Tax deregistrations clear without the months-long back-and-forth.

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or tax advice. UAE Corporate Tax rules, timeframes and penalties are set by the Federal Tax Authority and can change, and document expectations may vary by case and officer; confirm current requirements with the FTA or a registered tax agent. Any example is illustrative and contains no real taxpayer data. For Corporate Tax support, contact Fastlane Consultancy.