Government & Public Services
Money that comes from a public budget arrives with conditions attached — a scope, an approved purpose, a procurement file — and it has to be traceable back to the line it was approved against long after the work is finished. A contract delivered without its records is a contract that cannot be substantiated.
MHBC Finance coordinates the accounting, VAT, payroll and Corporate Tax work behind the contractors, suppliers and service providers that deliver into the UAE public sector, so the procurement trail is intact, the retained records match the filings, and the audit file is ready before the auditor asks for it.
Registration for VAT is mandatory once taxable supplies exceed AED 375,000, and Corporate Tax applies at 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it, with the return due within nine months of the end of the tax period. Corporate Tax records are kept for seven years after the end of that period, and VAT records generally for five.
Where this work lands
Contractor billing in stages against a public-sector works programme
Supplier bringing several contract entities into one reportable year
The accounting and tax work behind public-sector delivery
The goal is simple: make the ledger, the contract file and the tax return give the same account of the same work, years after it was delivered. For a business working with the public sector, that work concentrates in five areas.
VAT treatment and the evidence for it
MHBC documents the basis on which each supply under a public contract is treated for VAT and carries it through each return filed within 28 days of the end of the tax period, so the treatment applied is the treatment the file supports.
The standard rate is 5%, and some supplies are zero-rated or exempt depending on their nature, which affects both what you charge and what you can recover on costs. Rather than settling that question invoice by invoice, MHBC fixes the basis for each contract at the outset and keeps the documentation that explains it.
Records, retention and the procurement trail
MHBC keeps the accounting records and supporting documents behind each contract, retained for the seven years Corporate Tax requires and the five years VAT records generally run to, so a closed contract can still be substantiated.
A public contract is examined on a longer horizon than the year in which it was delivered. The records that prove what was supplied, approved and paid are the same records the VAT return, the Corporate Tax computation and the audit file are drawn from — kept once, rather than rebuilt each time somebody asks.
Corporate Tax computation and filing
MHBC builds the Corporate Tax computation from the financial statements, applies the 0% band up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it, and files the return within nine months of the end of the tax period.
Registration is required of taxable persons carrying on business in the UAE regardless of profit level, and administrative penalties apply where it is late. Where contract income is recognised across periods rather than on completion, the accounting decisions taken during the year are what set the taxable income at the end of it.
Payroll, WPS and contract headcount
MHBC runs the monthly payroll, prepares the WPS salary file and carries the gratuity and leave accruals in the books as they build, so employment costs sit in the period they were incurred in.
Employers registered with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation must pay wages through the Wage Protection System, and several free zones operate their own equivalent salary-transfer requirement, so which regime applies depends on where the entity is licensed. An employee who completes at least one year of continuous service is entitled to end-of-service benefits under the Labour Law, and salaries and related employment costs are deductible expenses that have to be supported by records — which is why the payroll journal is posted into the books monthly rather than at year end.
Audit coordination and the reportable position
MHBC prepares the financial statements and supporting schedules and coordinates a Ministry of Economy-licensed auditor, who performs the audit, where revenue exceeds AED 50 million in the tax period or a free zone requires audited accounts for licence renewal.
Every Qualifying Free Zone Person must maintain audited financial statements regardless of revenue, mainland companies must maintain them under the Commercial Companies Law, and most free zones require them in time for licence renewal, often within a set period after the financial year-end. MHBC prepares the file and remains the single point of contact — the opinion is the auditor's to give.
Related service
Accounting & Bookkeeping
The proof is the product. MHBC keeps the ledger, the contract records and the supporting documents that the VAT return, the Corporate Tax computation and the audit file are all drawn from — so a contract closed years ago can still be explained from the books rather than from memory.