After You Submit: FTA Review Timelines for Reconsiderations and Waivers

Submitting the request is the part you control. What follows is a waiting period with its own published outer limits — knowing them upfront saves a lot of anxious dashboard-checking.

The timelines

• Reconsideration requests: the FTA may take up to 45 business days to respond — and may extend that period.
• Penalty waiver requests (via the EmaraTax "Penalty waiver – Penalty Installment Plan" section): review may take up to 110 business days.

Remember these are business days — Monday to Friday, excluding UAE public holidays — so 45 business days is roughly two calendar months, and 110 business days can stretch past five. Plan cash flow and expectations accordingly.

While you wait

Keep your submission reference safe. After submitting through EmaraTax, save the reference number and a screenshot of the confirmation page. If anything needs chasing later, that reference is how.

Watch the registered email and the EmaraTax dashboard. If the Authority requests additional information or documents, respond within whatever window they state — promptly and completely. A stalled information request is the most avoidable way to lose momentum.

Don't file duplicates. Submitting the same request again "to be safe" creates confusion, not speed.

Keep the underlying obligations current. Whatever the pending request, stay on time with ongoing filings and payments. A clean ongoing record is simply good practice — and any request reads better against it.

When the decision comes

The FTA's decision at this stage is final in the administrative sense, though further escalation routes exist in UAE law for those who want to pursue them — typically territory for legal professionals rather than document services.

If the outcome is positive and you had already paid the penalty, watch your EmaraTax account for the corresponding credit.

The honest framing

No one can speed up the FTA's review, and no one can promise its result. The window where you have real influence is before submission: complete evidence, a precise chronology, correct Arabic drafting, and filing well inside your deadline. If you're still in that window, use it — our deadline calculator will tell you exactly how much of it is left.