IFZA Audit Requirements: Financial Statements for Your Licence Renewal

Since 30 September 2025, every IFZA licensee has to submit financial statements when it renews its trade licence. Most companies submit audited financial statements. Small companies, with turnover of AED 3 million or less and nine or fewer employees, submit a Simplified Financial Statement on IFZA’s own template instead. Any registered UAE auditor can sign the audit. Here is exactly what IFZA asks for, and where the corporate tax rules ask for more.

Who has to submit, and when

• Who: all IFZA licensees, whether an FZCO or a branch.
• When: at every licence renewal from 30 September 2025. Companies that renewed before that date were exempt for that one renewal only.
• Which year: the most recently completed financial year at the time of renewal. Your financial year is the one chosen at incorporation, set out in Section 75 of your Articles of Association.
• How: through an electronic form IFZA shares during the renewal, e-signed by an authorised signatory: a manager, director or shareholder.

Audited statements or a simplified statement?

Both tests have to be met for the simplified route. IFZA counts as an employee anyone working under an employment contract and under the company’s supervision, whether or not the company sponsors their visa. Turnover is gross income from all business activities for the year, worked out on principles similar to the corporate tax law.

Which accounting basis IFZA expects

IFZA’s renewal FAQ links the accounting basis to turnover, in line with the UAE corporate tax rules:

• Turnover of AED 3 million or less: cash basis.
• Turnover above AED 3 million and below AED 50 million: IFRS for SMEs.
• Turnover above AED 50 million: full IFRS.

What the Simplified Financial Statement contains

It is a one-page report on IFZA’s template, and no other format is accepted. For the current and prior year it asks for total, current and non-current assets and liabilities, shareholders’ equity, revenue, expenses, gross and net profit or loss, cash and bank balances, and the average number of employees. The manager signs a declaration that the figures are accurate, accepts the legal consequences of false information, and agrees that IFZA may ask for audited financial statements at any time.

Which auditor can you use?

Any registered UAE auditor. IFZA’s FAQ says so directly, and IFZA does not publish an approved auditor list, unlike zones such as DMCC or RAKEZ. If your company already had its statements audited for the Federal Tax Authority for the same financial year, IFZA accepts that report for the renewal.

The corporate tax catch

A simplified statement satisfies IFZA. It does not satisfy the corporate tax rules if your company claims the 0% rate as a Qualifying Free Zone Person:

• Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 requires every Qualifying Free Zone Person to prepare and maintain audited financial statements, with no revenue threshold, for tax periods starting on or after 1 January 2025.
• Ministerial Decision No. 229 of 2025 makes audited statements one of the conditions of the status. A company that fails a condition loses it for that tax period and the following four.
• The same decision sets the de minimis limit: non-qualifying revenue must not exceed 5% of total revenue or AED 5 million, whichever is lower.
• The corporate tax return and payment are due within nine months of the end of the tax period.

In practice, most IFZA companies claiming the 0% rate need an audit every year anyway, and the same audited statements can then be used for the IFZA renewal.

What happens if you miss the renewal

IFZA’s Terms and Conditions say a licence not renewed by its renewal date may face fines, suspension or cancellation, and all fines must be paid before the licence can be renewed. IFZA’s guidance on missed renewals also warns that visas and bank accounts can be affected. Closing an IFZA company needs a formal liquidation: simply not renewing does not close it.

Two claims you will see online

• “Only companies above AED 1 million need an audit.” This threshold does not appear in IFZA’s guidance. The tests are AED 3 million of turnover and nine employees.
• “You must use an IFZA-approved auditor.” IFZA’s FAQ says any registered UAE auditor may be used.

Plan the audit back from your renewal date

The renewal date, not the year end, is your practical deadline for IFZA, while the corporate tax return is due nine months after the year end. Quick Ashford Auditing of Accounts L.L.C. audits IFZA companies and branches, prepares the financial statements on the right basis, and times the work so the same report serves your renewal and your tax return. See our IFZA audit services, or read about audit and assurance.