Waiver or Reconsideration? How the Two FTA Routes Differ
7 July 2026 · 2 min read
Most businesses facing an FTA administrative penalty end up weighing two routes: a penalty waiver request or a reconsideration request. They're often mentioned in the same breath, but they say opposite things to the Authority.
The core distinction
- A waiver request says: the penalty was validly imposed — but circumstances beyond our control caused the breach, and we ask the Authority to excuse it.
- A reconsideration request says: we believe the decision itself should not stand, and here is why.
One accepts the decision and asks for discretion. The other challenges the decision on its merits. That difference drives everything else.
The clocks are different
| Waiver request | Reconsideration request | |
|---|---|---|
| Deadline to submit | No fixed 40-day bar (sooner is stronger) | 40 business days from notification (Article 29, Federal Decree-Law No. 28 of 2022) |
| FTA review time | Up to 110 business days | Up to 45 business days, extendable |
| Submitted via | EmaraTax — penalty waiver section | EmaraTax — reconsideration |
| Language of submission | Arabic for formal narratives | Arabic required |
The reconsideration deadline is the strict one. If you're genuinely unsure which route fits and your 40-business-day window is running, resolve the question quickly — check your deadline here.
What each route needs
A waiver request lives on circumstances and evidence. The FTA is known to consider genuine errors or misunderstanding of newly introduced regulations, and documented events outside the company's control — a medical emergency affecting the authorized signatory, a system or technical failure at the critical moment, a bank processing delay. The strongest versions share three features: the underlying obligation has since been fulfilled, the story is a precise dated chronology, and every claim in it points to a document.
A reconsideration request lives on reasoning. It must set out, in a properly structured Arabic submission, why the decision should be revisited — supported by the same discipline of dates and evidence.
One route is sometimes free
Before either of these: if your penalty is the AED 10,000 late corporate tax registration fine, check the FTA's waiver initiative first. File your first corporate tax return within seven months of your first tax period ending and the penalty is waived automatically — paid amounts are credited back to your EmaraTax account. Our eligibility checker tells you in a minute whether that free route applies to you.
Choosing honestly
No preparer, agent, or adviser can promise you an outcome on either route — the decision rests solely with the FTA. What you actually choose between is which story you can document: circumstances that excuse (waiver) or reasons the decision is wrong (reconsideration). Pick the one your evidence genuinely supports, and submit it properly, in Arabic, on time.
Facing an FTA penalty right now?
Check your deadline with the free calculator — and whether you qualify for a free waiver route before paying anyone.