I've stopped trading — do I need to deregister for VAT, or can I just leave it as is?

Deregistration splits into two cases. Mandatory: you've genuinely and permanently stopped making taxable supplies — the business has actually closed — and here deregistering isn't optional. Voluntary: your total taxable supplies and imports over the past 12 months fell below AED 375,000 (the mandatory registration threshold), or you expect them to stay below AED 375,000 over the next 30 days — here you may choose to deregister, though it effectively becomes required if you were only voluntarily registered in the first place and the figure has now dropped below AED 187,500.

The legal deadline to submit the deregistration application is 20 business days from the moment either condition is met, and missing it starts an AED 1,000 penalty right away, climbing by AED 1,000 for every month of delay up to a AED 10,000 cap — applied even when no actual tax is owed at the time. Before final approval, the FTA requires settling any outstanding tax or penalties and filing the final return. RASEEKH reviews client figures periodically so the 20-day window is caught from day one, not after the penalty has already accrued.