Corporate services for UAE companies.

Company setup

We start with the two questions that determine everything else: what exactly will the business do, and who will it sell to. From there we recommend mainland or free zone, the specific zone, and the activity codes that will support your visas, your bank account and your tax position. Getting this wrong is the single most expensive mistake in a UAE setup.

• Activity classification and zone selection, with a written rationale
• Trade name reservation and initial approvals
• Licensing with the economic department or the free zone authority
• Memorandum of association and corporate documents, including attestation and legalisation
• Office or flexi-desk arrangements and Ejari registration where required
• Branch registration for existing foreign companies

Residence visas and immigration

A UAE company normally carries an allocation of residence visas. We handle the establishment card, the visa applications and the Emirates ID process, and we tell you in advance which steps require you to be physically present so one trip covers them.

• Establishment card and immigration file
• Investor and partner visas for owners
• Employment visas and labour contracts for staff
• Dependant visas for spouses, children and parents where eligible
• Medical screening and Emirates ID coordination, and visa renewals

Corporate tax, VAT and compliance

The UAE’s corporate tax regime changed the calculus for free-zone businesses: a 0% rate is available to a qualifying free-zone person on qualifying income, but it depends on meeting conditions including adequate substance in the zone. Whether your business qualifies is a question we answer before setup, not after the first return is due.

• Corporate tax registration and return filing
• Assessment of qualifying free-zone person status and qualifying income
• VAT registration, returns and record-keeping
• Economic substance considerations and documentation
• Licence renewals and ongoing regulatory filings

Accounting and audit

Proper accounting records are now a legal requirement rather than an optional extra, and several free zones require audited accounts for licence renewal. We keep the books, prepare the reporting and coordinate the audit where one is needed.

• Bookkeeping and management accounts
• Audited financial statements where the zone or group requires them
• Payroll and WPS administration
• Reporting packs for an overseas parent, including consolidation support

Banking and cross-border structuring

UAE bank onboarding is demanding and gets more so the less substance a company has. We prepare the documentation banks actually ask for — ownership chain, business rationale, expected counterparties and flows, and source of wealth for the owners — and we design the structure so it is bankable in the first place.

• Corporate account opening support and bank selection
• Source-of-wealth and source-of-funds documentation
• UAE entities within Singapore, Hong Kong or Malaysian holding structures
• Substance planning: premises, personnel and decision-making in the UAE
• Restructuring and licence amendments as the business changes