Top the effective rate up to 15% for in-scope groups.
Top-up tax due
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In scope
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Rate gap to 15%
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A tax that only the giants ever see
The Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax is the UAE’s piece of the OECD’s global minimum tax, often called Pillar Two. The idea behind it is straightforward even if the mechanics are not: the largest multinational groups should pay at least a 15 percent effective rate wherever they operate, so that shifting profit into a low-tax jurisdiction stops being worthwhile. If a group’s effective tax rate in the UAE sits below 15 percent, the DMTT collects the difference as a top-up. Crucially, this is not a tax that touches ordinary businesses. It applies only to multinational enterprise groups with consolidated revenue of at least EUR 750 million, the same threshold the OECD uses, and the UAE has applied it to financial years starting on or after 1 January 2025.
So the first thing this calculator does is a scope test, not a tax calculation. It checks your group’s consolidated revenue against the EUR 750 million line. Below it, you are out of scope and the top-up is zero, no matter how profitable the UAE entity is. Above it, the maths begins.
Watch the two currencies in play
There is a subtlety in this tool that mirrors the real rules and catches people out: the scope test is measured in euros, but the top-up itself is computed on UAE profit in dirhams. Mixing them up, say by comparing dirham revenue against the EUR 750 million figure, produces a wrong scope answer. Keep them separate. The revenue test is a euro figure about the whole group; the tax base is a dirham figure about the UAE entity.
Run the defaults to see it work: a group with EUR 900 million of consolidated revenue, AED 10,000,000 of UAE entity profit, and a current effective tax rate of 9 percent. The group clears the EUR 750 million threshold, so it is in scope. The rate gap is 15 percent minus 9 percent, and that gap is applied to the dirham profit.
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The chart shows the AED 10,000,000 profit and the slice the top-up claims to lift the effective rate from 9 to 15 percent.
Why a free-zone 0 percent does not save an in-scope group
A common assumption is that a large group operating through a UAE free zone, where qualifying income can be taxed at 0 percent, escapes the top-up. It does not, and that is the whole design intent of Pillar Two. If the group is in scope on revenue and its effective rate in the UAE lands below 15 percent, whether because of free-zone 0 percent treatment, incentives, or anything else, the DMTT exists precisely to collect the shortfall up to 15 percent. The benefit of the low rate is clawed back at the group’s home or via the domestic top-up. The 15 percent rate and the EUR 750 million threshold here reflect the announced framework, but Pillar Two implementation is detailed and still settling: a group near the threshold or relying on free-zone treatment should confirm the current rules and any safe harbours with the UAE Federal Tax Authority and, where relevant, the free-zone authority before acting on this estimate.
Pillar Two questions
My company is profitable but small. Could the DMTT ever apply to me?
Not on its own size. The test is the consolidated revenue of the whole multinational group you belong to, not your individual entity’s profit or revenue. A small, highly profitable UAE company that is part of a group below EUR 750 million is out of scope. Only if your group as a whole clears that revenue line does the top-up logic come into play.
If my effective rate is already 15 percent or higher, is there anything to pay?
No. The top-up is only the gap between your effective rate and 15 percent. If you are already at or above 15 percent in the UAE, the rate gap is zero and so is the top-up, even for an in-scope group. The tool reflects this: enter an effective rate of 15 and the top-up falls to nil.