Payroll and WPS compliance for UAE companies
Monthly payroll for UAE companies and salary payments through the Wage Protection System: payslips, reconciliation and the required documentation.
We run the monthly payroll for UAE companies and support the correct handling of salary payments through the Wage Protection System. That covers preparing and reconciling the payslips each month and producing the documentation required for the salary transfers, so wages reach staff on time and the file the bank submits matches your books.
What is the Wage Protection System?
The Wage Protection System, usually shortened to WPS, is the electronic salary transfer scheme through which companies in the UAE pay their staff. Salaries move through an approved agent, and the transfer record tells the authorities that employees were paid, when, and how much.
The practical consequence is that payroll stops being an internal matter. A salary run that does not match the registered contracts creates a discrepancy in a government system, and those discrepancies attach to the company, not to the accountant who prepared the file.
What do we take over each month?
Payroll is a fixed monthly cycle with a deadline, which is exactly the kind of work that goes wrong when it sits with a founder alongside everything else.
- Preparing the monthly payroll and the individual payslips
- Reconciling payroll against contracts, allowances and any changes in the month
- Producing the documentation needed for the salary transfers
- Posting payroll into the accounts, so wage cost and liabilities are correct in the books
- Handling joiners, leavers and end of service calculations as they arise
Do you make the salary payments yourselves?
No. The transfer is made by your company through its bank or an approved agent, because it moves your money from your account. Our role is everything around it: the calculation, the reconciliation, the documentation and the posting into the accounts.
That separation matters. It keeps control of the funds with you and keeps the record keeping with us, which is the arrangement auditors and authorities expect to see.
What usually goes wrong?
Three things, in this order. Payroll that does not match the registered employment contracts. Salary transfers that are made but never posted into the accounts, so the wage cost is missing at year end. And end of service benefits that were never provided for, which then land in a single lump in the year someone leaves.
All three surface in the same place, namely the annual statements and any audit that follows them.
Frequently asked questions
Does WPS apply to my free zone company?
It depends on the zone and on how your staff are registered. Several free zones operate their own equivalent scheme rather than the mainland one. We check which regime applies to your licence before the first payroll run, rather than assuming.
What happens if salaries are paid late?
Late or missing salary payments are visible to the authorities because the transfers run through a monitored system. Consequences typically affect the company licence and its ability to process work permits, which is why payroll deadlines should be treated like tax deadlines.
Can you take over payroll mid year?
Yes, and it is a common point to switch. We take the year to date figures, reconcile them against the contracts and the bank, correct what needs correcting and then run the remaining months. Waiting for a January start usually just extends the problem.
Do you handle end of service benefits?
Yes. We calculate the entitlement, provide for it in the accounts over time rather than at the moment someone leaves, and prepare the final settlement. The provision is one of the items most often missing when statements are drawn up.
Keep reading: WPS compliance: the employer guide ·Bookkeeping services in Dubai ·Financial statements and audit support