The Notification Is Due Before the Year Ends

Country-by-Country Reporting is the third tier of transfer pricing documentation, and the one with the shortest runway. Not because the report is hard to produce, but because the obligation that precedes it falls due before the year being reported has finished.

Who it applies to, and the word that decides it

The guide states that the UAE CbCR requirements apply to MNE Groups headquartered in the UAE with consolidated group revenue equal to or above AED 3.15 billion — approximately EUR 750 million — during the Fiscal Year immediately preceding the reporting Fiscal Year.

Note also the measurement year. The threshold is tested against the Fiscal Year immediately preceding the reporting Fiscal Year, not the reporting year itself. A group that crosses AED 3.15 billion this year is preparing to report for next year, which is the only reason the timetable is workable at all.

The UAE introduced these requirements through Cabinet Resolution No. 44 of 2020, and the threshold is set out at Article 2(1)(a) of Ministerial Decision No. 97 of 2023.

Two deadlines, and the first is the trap

The Ultimate Parent Entity carries both obligations, and they are not a single filing.

1. A CbCR notification in respect of each reporting Fiscal Year, submitted no later than the last day of that Fiscal Year, informing the FTA that the Ultimate Parent Entity is the reporting entity which will file the report.
2. The Country-by-Country Report itself, filed no later than 12 months after the last day of each reporting year of the MNE Group in the UAE.

The report then follows twelve months later, which is a comfortable window by comparison. The asymmetry is the point: the hard deadline is the administrative one, and it is the one with nothing to prompt it.

What the report actually contains

The form follows the standard template in Annex 3 to Chapter V of the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines, and comprises three tables.

• Table 1 — quantitative information per tax jurisdiction, including unrelated party and related party revenues, stated capital, taxes accrued and paid, and employee count.
• Table 2 — qualitative information per Constituent Company on the main business activities undertaken during the year.
• Table 3 — additional information needed to understand Tables 1 and 2, such as assumptions on exchange rates and the source of data.

The report also requires a listing of all the Constituent Companies for which financial information is reported, including the tax jurisdiction of incorporation where it differs from the jurisdiction of residence, and the nature of the main business activities each carries out.

Where it sits relative to the other documentation

CbCR is one of five transfer pricing documentation requirements, and it is the only one keyed to a group-level threshold and a group-level filer. The Master File and Local File run on their own thresholds under Ministerial Decision No. 97 of 2023, and a Taxable Person can owe those without ever touching a Country-by-Country Report.

The guide is explicit that Cabinet Resolution No. 44 of 2020 sets out the requirements and contains practical guidance on preparing and submitting both the report and the notification, and directs taxable persons to it. That is where the mechanics live rather than in the transfer pricing guide.

For groups near the threshold, the same AED 3.15 billion figure appears in the Top-up Tax scope test — but on different terms, with a two-of-four-years look-back and a different consequence.

What to check

1. Confirm where the Ultimate Parent Entity sits — UAE CbCR applies to groups headquartered here.
2. Test consolidated revenue for the Fiscal Year immediately preceding the reporting year, not the reporting year.
3. Diarise the notification for the last day of the Fiscal Year, not after it.
4. Diarise the report separately, 12 months after the last day of the reporting year.
5. Assemble the Constituent Company list early, including jurisdictions of incorporation that differ from residence.
6. Review Table 1 internally before filing, because it invites the comparison a reviewer will make.
7. Use Table 3 to explain exchange rate assumptions and data sources rather than leaving them to be inferred.
8. Refer to Cabinet Resolution No. 44 of 2020 for the filing mechanics.

The FTA Transfer Pricing Guide (CTGTP1) is guidance rather than legislation; the operative rules are in Cabinet Resolution No. 44 of 2020 and Ministerial Decision No. 97 of 2023. Confirm the position for your own facts before relying on it.