UAE freezone company formation

Yes. A freezone company can be 100% foreign-owned, with no local partner or sponsor. On the mainland, full foreign ownership has been allowed for most activities since 2021.

No. You send the documents, and we register the company and get its licence. You only need to come to the UAE for a residency visa, for the medical test and the Emirates ID.

Documents and due diligence take 1–2 days. The company is then formed and the licence issued in 5–10 business days. A bank account and a residency visa are separate steps after that.

Not automatically. The UAE taxes company profit at 0% up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it. A freezone company that meets the conditions to be a qualifying freezone person pays 0% on its qualifying income and 9% on the rest. Whether your income qualifies depends on what the company does and who it sells to.

A freezone company that meets every condition for the 0% rate: real substance in the UAE, qualifying income, audited accounts every year, dealings with related parties at market prices, and non-qualifying revenue of no more than 5% of the total or AED 5 million, whichever is lower. It must also not have opted for the standard rates. Failing a condition costs the status for that tax year and the next 4.

Yes, like any other UAE company, even one taxed at 0%. A new company registers within 3 months of incorporation and files a return every year, within 9 months of the end of its financial year.

Yes. A company whose revenue is AED 3 million or less, in the tax year and in every year before it, can choose Small Business Relief and is treated as having no taxable profit. It applies to tax years ending on or before 31 December 2029. A qualifying freezone person cannot use it, and the company still files a return.

Only above a threshold. VAT is 5%, and registration is required once taxable sales and imports pass AED 375,000 over 12 months; from AED 187,500 it is optional. Freezone companies follow the same VAT rules, apart from some movements of goods inside designated zones.

No, not on its own. You become UAE tax resident by spending 183 days there in 12 months; or 90 days if you have a UAE residency visa and a home, a job or a business there; or by making the UAE your usual home and the centre of your personal and financial life. Your home country applies its own rules as well.

Yes, on request. The company sponsors the visa, using its establishment card. You come to the UAE for a medical test and to give your fingerprints for the Emirates ID.

It can sell abroad and to other freezone companies. Selling on the mainland usually needs a local distributor or a mainland licence, and Dubai also issues permits for it to companies in its freezones. Income from mainland customers only counts towards the 0% rate for activities on the qualifying list, such as manufacturing or logistics. We set up mainland companies on request.

Not to form the company: a virtual business address is included for year 1. To keep 0% as a qualifying freezone person, the company needs real substance in the UAE: people, premises and spending in proportion to what it does.