On 9 February 2026, the UAE Ministry of Finance announced the issuance of Cabinet Decision No. (1) of 2026, introducing a Corporate Tax exemption for certain sports entities, which are recognised as exempt from Corporate Tax.
The Decision was issued pursuant to Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 on the Taxation of Corporations and Businesses and implements the mechanism set out in Article 4 of the Law, which allows the list of Exempt Persons to be expanded by way of Cabinet decisions.
The exemption applies to strictly defined categories of sports-related entities, subject to compliance with the prescribed conditions, including:
- International Sports Entities;
- Sports Entities wholly owned and controlled by such International Sports Entities; and
- Ancillary Entities carrying out exclusively ancillary activities.
The Decision also regulates the purposes of activities of such entities and establishes restrictions on the use of their income and assets, as well as the incurrence of related expenditure.
We share a more detailed analysis of the Decision in our new alert.
