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Gulf (GCC)
Free guide · Gulf (GCC)
United Arab Emirates Payroll & Employment Guide 2026
The United Arab Emirates combines a tax-free salary environment with one of the most actively reformed labour frameworks in the region. There is no personal income tax, yet employers carry defined obligations for working hours, leave, social insurance, wage protection and end- of-service benefits. This guide sets out those obligations for mainland and standard free-zone employment, and flags where the DIFC and ADGM diverge. Three headline reforms shape 2026: the WPS overhaul under Resolution 340/2026, mandatory salary transparency in employment contracts, and the increase of the Emirati minimum wage to AED 6,000. Each is covered in the sections that follow.
At a glance
Four key payroll indicators for United Arab Emirates
0%PERSONAL INCOME TAX
48hMAXIMUM WORKING WEEK
30dANNUAL LEAVE · 1 YR+
6,000 AEDEMIRATI MINIMUM WAGE
What is inside
8 chapters, 10 pages
The opening summary of every chapter is below. Download the PDF for the full text, tables and rates.
Jurisdiction & Company Setup
The mainland, DIFC and ADGM frameworks and where each one applies.
Before hiring, an employer must establish which of three frameworks governs the relationship. Mainland companies and most free zones apply the Federal Labour Law through MOHRE. The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) are fully independent jurisdictions: Federal Labour Law does not apply to them, and each operates its own employment law and end-of-service regime.
Working Hours & Leave
Hours, overtime and the annual, sick, maternity and paternity regime.
The Federal Labour Law caps the working week at 48 hours and eight hours per day, reduces hours during Ramadan, and sets out a structured regime of annual, sick, maternity and paternity leave. Overtime is paid at defined premiums; unused annual leave is cashed out on termination and cannot be forfeited.
Social Security — GPSSA & ADPF
National contribution systems, the ILOE scheme and the contribution base.
There is no personal income tax in the UAE, and social insurance covers UAE nationals only. Contributions run through the GPSSA in Dubai and the five northern emirates and through the ADPF in Abu Dhabi, with rates that depend on the employee's registration date. A separate scheme, ILOE, is mandatory for every private-sector employee, national and expatriate alike.
WPS — Wage Protection System
Resolution 340/2026, the new deadlines and the enforcement timeline.
Resolution No. 340/2026, effective 1 June 2026, is the most significant overhaul of the Wage Protection System since 2009. It shifts the system from post-payment reporting to pre-validation: salary files must be approved before any transfer executes. The former grace periods have been removed, and enforcement now escalates on a fixed daily timetable.
End-of-Service Gratuity (EOSB)
Article 51 entitlement, a worked example and the DIFC DEWS scheme.
For expatriate employees, end-of-service gratuity is governed by Article 51 of the Federal Decree-Law and calculated on basic salary only, after a minimum of one year's continuous service. Since 2021, all eligible employees receive their full gratuity regardless of how the employment ends. In the DIFC, gratuity is replaced by the funded DEWS savings scheme.
Hiring & Termination
Contracts, salary transparency, probation and notice periods.
All employment contracts must be fixed-term, for a maximum of three years, and registered with MOHRE; they auto-renew where both parties continue. From 1 January 2026, salary transparency rules require every contract to specify the exact basic salary and allowance breakdown, and MOHRE publishes standardised templates for each work model.
Emiratisation (Tawteen)
Quotas, the Emirati minimum wage and the 2026 deadlines.
Companies with 50 or more employees must grow their Emirati headcount in skilled roles by 2% each year, reaching roughly 10% overall by the end of 2026. Non-compliance carries a fine of AED 6,000 per month for each missing Emirati hire, rising by AED 1,000 a year through 2026.
Practical Notes
The checks that prevent the most common UAE payroll errors.
The obligations set out in this guide translate into a short list of checks that prevent the most common and most costly UAE payroll errors. Each should be settled before the first pay run.
This guide is general information, not legal advice or a complete statement of the law. It reflects the legislation in force when it was prepared, and legislation changes. Always seek country-specific professional advice for a specific situation.
With Datassist
Running payroll and employment operations in United Arab Emirates
Employing people in United Arab Emirates means applying the rules in this guide again every pay cycle: tracking rates, filing social security, running compliant wage payment channels and calculating end-of-service entitlements. Datassist teams exist so you can manage that from a single point.
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