Quick answer: WPS UAE 2026 rules come from Ministerial Resolution 340 of 2026, which MOHRE issued in May 2026 and which took effect on 1 June 2026, replacing Resolution 598 of 2022. It sets one salary due date for the private sector, the 1st of the following month, raises the on-time threshold from 80% to 85% of wages due, removes the first-month grace period for new hires, and starts enforcement from the second day after the deadline. Penalties then escalate in stages, up to referral for prosecution in serious cases.
Every private-sector salary in the UAE is now due on the same day: the 1st of the following month. It applies to every employer, whatever date their payroll calendar has used for years.
At a freight forwarding office in Al Garhoud, the compliance officer meets this rule the way she meets every rule. She prints it. In late May the resolution comes off the printer in a warm stack, and she clips it, uncaps a yellow highlighter and starts at line one. Not the summary on social media. Not the WhatsApp forward from a cousin in another company. The text.
By page two the highlighter has found three things her payroll team will not like. The date on their payroll calendar is four days too late. New joiners no longer get a quiet first month. And the first warning can arrive the day after payday is missed.
She does not panic. She makes a list.
This guide is that list, written out for anyone who has not had time to read Ministerial Resolution 340 of 2026 (WPS) for themselves. It covers who the resolution applies to, what changed from the 2022 rules, how the enforcement steps unfold, and a seven-step checklist to work through before the next 1st.
WPS is the electronic record of salary payments made by the UAE’s private sector. MOHRE runs it together with the UAE Central Bank and the approved banks, exchange houses and financial institutions that carry salary transfers.
Each payroll run travels with a Salary Information File, the SIF, which tells the system who was paid, how much and when. That gives MOHRE a monthly view of every establishment’s payroll. When salaries arrive late or short, the system notices, and the measures in Resolution 340 begin.
The short answer: private-sector establishments registered with MOHRE, whatever they do. Construction, hospitality, retail, finance, technology, healthcare and manufacturing all sit inside it. There is no sector carve-out for being busy.
Three points to read carefully:
A company with both a mainland entity and a free zone entity may need two answers, one for each payroll.
Most of the change is about time. The old framework gave employers room after the due date. The new one does not.
| Rule | Old: Resolution 598 of 2022 | New: Resolution 340 of 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Salary due date | Tied to the contract, with a tolerance period before pay counted as late | The 1st of the following Gregorian month, for everyone |
| On-time threshold | 80% | 85% of total wages due |
| New hires | A first-month grace period | No grace period; covered from the start |
| First enforcement step | After the tolerance period ran out | From the second day after the due date |
| Escalation | Slower | Staged, up to referral for prosecution in serious cases |
Commentary on the old rules does not agree on exactly how many days the tolerance period ran, and it no longer matters. What matters is that it is gone.
Resolution 340 puts every private-sector payroll on one date. Each month’s pay falls due as the next month opens, on its 1st. January pay is due on 1 February. February pay is due on 1 March.
Read that with your bank’s timing in mind. The resolution looks at whether wages were paid by the due date, and your WPS agent needs time to process the file. A payroll released on the afternoon of the 31st may not land in time if the bank takes a working day, and a weekend at month end makes it worse.
The practical rule is simple: decide the date your file must leave so the salaries arrive by the 1st, then put your approvals in front of that date.
Yes. Under the old framework a new employee’s first month was treated more gently. Resolution 340 removes that grace period, so a person who joined on the 12th needs to be in the SIF that is due on the 1st, with complete bank and ID details. Recruiters, onboarding and payroll now share one deadline.
A month counts as compliant when no less than 85% of the wage bill owed for it has been transferred by the 1st. Under Resolution 598 the figure was 80%.
You will see some summaries describe this as a share of employees. The government’s published guidance frames it as a share of wages, which is the measure to plan for. The difference matters, because one highly paid team failing can move the percentage much more than its headcount suggests.
A worked illustration. A firm’s wages due for March total AED 800,000.
Do not plan to the threshold. Plan to pay everyone, and treat 85% as the alarm bell.
Resolution 340 also looks at each salary, not only the total. As the resolution has been summarised, a deduction larger than 15% of the monthly wage puts that employee’s payment at risk of not counting as a proper, on-time salary for WPS purposes. The commonly cited comparison is a 20% ceiling under the previous rules.
That makes deductions a WPS question, not just a payroll one. Advances, loan repayments and accommodation recoveries are the usual suspects. If one employee’s deductions in a month would take them past the cap, split the recovery across more months, and keep the employee’s written agreement and the legal basis for every deduction on file.
Because the details of how the cap is measured can matter in a dispute, confirm the exact basis with MOHRE or your legal adviser before you change a policy.
This is the part the compliance officer in Al Garhoud highlighted twice. Enforcement is staged, and it starts early. The table below shows the order of measures. The precise day each later measure applies, and any fine amounts, are set by MOHRE and should be checked against the official text before you rely on them.
| Stage | What can happen | What it means for the business |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 (the due date) | Salary payments are logged through WPS | Nothing, if wages are paid |
| From day 2 | The establishment is flagged, with notifications and warnings | The clock is running; fix and pay now |
| In the days that follow | Restrictions on labour services, including new work permits | Hiring and onboarding stall |
| Continued delay | Administrative fines and further escalation, especially for repeat breaches | Costs rise and the establishment’s standing suffers |
| From day 21, in serious cases | Possible referral for prosecution | Legal exposure for the business and those responsible |
Two things stand out. The first warning comes from day two, so there is no quiet week to sort things out. And the most expensive consequence for most firms is not the fine. It is a freeze on new permits in the middle of a hiring push.
For a field-by-field view of the file errors that start this clock, see our guide to WPS errors and penalties UAE employers face. For a month-by-month action plan built around the new rules, read our guide to WPS compliance in the UAE for 2026.
Workplus HCM is the HR and payroll platform we build in Dubai, designed around UAE and GCC payroll rules. Under Resolution 340, its job is to make the 1st boring.
The SIF is produced by the system at the end of each approved run, so nobody edits a bank template by hand. Attendance and leave feed payroll in the same system, which keeps unpaid days and overtime from being typed in twice. It also raises a flag ahead of any visa or labour card lapse, so an expired document is caught weeks before it can break a salary line. Joiners entered through onboarding carry their bank and ID details straight into payroll, which matters now that the first-month grace period is gone.
Our payroll software in Dubai page shows a run from cut-off to file.
Work through these in order before your next payroll.
The printed resolution in Al Garhoud ended up pinned to a corkboard, every page striped yellow. Her payroll team moved their file date four days earlier, cleaned up two months of joiner records and found one manager whose loan recovery would have broken the deduction cap.
That is what WPS UAE 2026 compliance under Ministerial Resolution 340 asks for: one date, a higher bar, no grace for new hires and a short fuse on enforcement. None of it is hard once it sits in your calendar instead of your memory.
If your payroll still lives in a workbook, our main guide to cloud payroll software in Dubai walks through the switch. And if you want to see a payroll built to land by the 1st, request a free Workplus HCM demo.
Last reviewed: 26 October 2026. Resolution 340 is new, and MOHRE guidance on it is still evolving. Workplus HCM and Tuscan Consulting are HR specialists, not a law firm, so confirm the details with MOHRE or a qualified legal adviser before you change your payroll calendar.
It took effect on 1 June 2026, after MOHRE issued it in May 2026. From that date it replaced Resolution 598 of 2022 for MOHRE-registered private employers. Salaries for June 2026 onwards are measured under the new rules.
Wages are due on the 1st of the following calendar month, so April salaries must be paid by 1 May. The old tolerance period after the due date no longer applies. Allow for your bank’s processing time so the money arrives by the 1st, not just leaves your account.
The bar is now 85% of the month’s wage bill paid by the due date, where Resolution 598 of 2022 asked for 80%. It is measured on wages, so a single failed high-value batch can push you below it. Aim to pay everyone on time and treat 85% as a warning line.
From the second day after the due date, the establishment can be flagged and receive notifications and warnings. If the delay continues, measures escalate in stages, including restrictions on new work permits, fines for repeat breaches and, in serious cases from day 21, referral for prosecution. Pay the outstanding salaries as fast as possible and keep a record of the fix.
Yes. Resolution 340 removed the first-month grace period that new hires had under the 2022 rules. A joiner must be set up in payroll with valid bank and ID details in time for the next due date. Build onboarding so those details are collected before the employee’s first payroll cut-off.
