This month-by-month calendar consolidates key payroll deadlines across major MENA markets (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Egypt) based on wage protection systems, social insurance filings, nationalisation reviews, and statutory dates. Adapt it to your specific countries of operation and align with internal payroll cut-offs, finance closes, and HR cycles—generic calendars fail when local variations (free zones, sectors) apply.
January 2026
Country
Key Deadlines & Actions
UAE
Emirati min wage AED 6,000 enforcement begins; WPS files due per pay date (+15 days max); GPSSA contributions for nationals
Step 3: Build automated alerts in HRIS/payroll systems for jurisdiction-specific triggers.
Step 4: Assign owners—HR for WPS/nationalisation, Finance for social insurance/tax.
This calendar turns regulatory fragmentation into operational rhythm. Download as Excel/CSV, colour-code by risk level, and review quarterly—proactive alignment prevents 90% of automated WPS rejections and inspection findings.
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OPS is a fully comprehensive Outsourced Payroll Solutions provider and is the HR and Payroll partner of choice for many industry leaders in the UAE/Middle East/KSA/Egypt.
We help our customer to improve payroll efficiencies and accuracies, as well as providing HR administration support, all while ensuring our customer remain compliant.
We support our customers with comprehensive end-to-end HR and payroll services including managed or outsourced payroll services, HR admin, treasury services, Visa and PRO HR related services as well as supporting with the WPS and GPSSA Portals across the UAE. We assist with outsourced payroll, compliance and tax related services in the Middle East, and we provide outsourced payroll and compliance related services in KSA And Egypt.
