We extract oil or quarry stone — why aren't we paying Federal Corporate Tax?

Article 7 of the Corporate Tax Law exempts Extractive Business — the extraction of oil, gas, minerals and quarried materials — from Federal Corporate Tax, but the exemption isn't unconditional. It rests on three core conditions: the person holds a right, concession or license from the relevant Emirate authority to extract or process natural resources, is effectively subject to tax or a levy at the Emirate level itself, and formally notifies the Ministry of Finance of its exempt status.

The underlying logic is that the UAE has left the regulation and taxation of natural resources to each individual Emirate, much as it was before the 2022 law, rather than layering a federal tax on top. That said, income from non-extractive activity — administrative services or side investments, for example — remains subject to Federal Corporate Tax in the ordinary way.

RASEEKH helps companies in the natural resource extraction sector confirm that all three exemption conditions are genuinely met and properly documented, and separates the exempt extractive income from any other taxable income in the books — so the exemption isn't put at risk by a documentation gap.