Posted: 26 / 09 / 2026

By Aabid Syed, Sedulo UAE

UAE businesses have known for some time that they will need approval from the Emirates Research and Development Council (ERDC) before claiming the R&D tax credit. What that process will look like has been less clear.

Two recent developments offer a better picture: a case study from the company that built the Council’s application system, and a job advert for a specialist who will assess submissions.

The system has a name

It is called Tawwer. Tatweer Middle East & Africa, the Abu Dhabi technology company behind it, published a case study over the summer.

Tatweer says the Council wanted to move away from a manual process that would struggle with rising application volumes. It also wanted more consistent decisions, a central record of each review and better status updates for applicants.

The system described in the case study brings submissions into one portal. It includes AI tools to support evaluation, separate workflows for reviewers and approvers, and live application tracking. A preview shows applicants signing in through UAE PASS. Once approved, businesses would claim the credit through their Corporate Tax return.

This is Tatweer’s account of the project, not procedural guidance from the ERDC. The live process may differ. Still, it gives businesses their clearest look yet at how applications could be handled.

Who will review the applications?

Last month, the ERDC advertised for an R&D Specialist based in Abu Dhabi. The job description says the Council will assess both whether a project meets the R&D criteria and whether its expenditure qualifies.

That second point matters. Businesses may need to explain their project costs at the pre-approval stage, rather than leave them until the tax return.

The specialist will review technical documents, assess projects against the scheme rules, and write reports and recommendations. The Council is looking for someone with a science, engineering or technology degree and experience designing or evaluating R&D projects. Tax credit experience is an advantage, but not a requirement.

The advert suggests applications will face close technical scrutiny. A description of what a product does will be less useful than a clear account of the uncertainty the team faced, the work it carried out and what it found.

The role also involves working with external partners on guidance and best practice. For a new scheme, that dialogue could make a real difference.

A lesson from the UK

UK businesses have had to adjust to more detailed R&D claim requirements in recent years. Since 2023, claims have required an additional information form, while some companies must notify HMRC before claiming. Broad descriptions of an innovative product are no substitute for an account of the underlying technical work.

The UAE appears to be putting technical review near the start of its process. Businesses with genuine R&D should prepare to show the work behind their claims from the outset.

What businesses can do now

  • Choose a project and write it up. Test it against the five R&D criteria: novel, creative, uncertain, systematic, and transferable or reproducible. Be specific about the uncertainty and how your team tried to resolve it.
  • Put a budget against each project. If expenditure will be reviewed during pre-approval, costs need to be traceable to the work. Identify the staff, consumables and UAE subcontractor costs involved.
  • Check your UAE R&D headcount. Credit rates change at the 2, 6 and 14 staff thresholds. Establish who works on R&D in the UAE and how much of their time is spent on it.
  • Review who benefits from the results. The claimant must be entitled to a share of the returns from the R&D. This needs particular attention where a parent company overseas owns the IP or controls the project.
  • Check your tax and audit position. Free Zone status can affect access to the credit, and audited financial statements will be needed for the claim.
  • Keep the evidence while the work is happening. Record objectives, methods, experiments and findings as you go. That will be far easier to defend than an account reconstructed at year end.

What remains unanswered

The ERDC has yet to publish detailed rules on whether work already under way can receive approval, how long reviews will take, how long approvals will remain valid, or what happens when an application is refused.

Those answers will matter, particularly for businesses already spending on R&D. For now, the sensible step is to get projects, costs and records into shape so an application can be made as soon as the process is clear.

Sedulo advises businesses on the UAE R&D tax credit from our Dubai office. If you are planning a claim and want to review your projects before pre-approval opens, get in touch.