UAE · IFZA (Dubai)
United Arab Emirates: 2 company types, its taxes, banking and business environment, and what it is known for.
Forming a company
Company types in UAE · IFZA (Dubai)
The 2 forms a founder can choose here, each with its own figures. Open one for its sources.
What it is known for
Where United Arab Emirates is in the world’s top 10 on a measure anyone can check, the best rank first. Only the top is shown; a low rank is never stated.
Figures for United Arab Emirates as a whole.
- World’s2ndWorld-leading exports Gold (unwrought or semi-finished)Gold (including gold plated with platinum), unwrought or in semi-manufactured forms, or in powder formUS$57.9 bn · 9.9% of world exports of 156 exporters · 2024 CEPII BACI, January 2026 release See the top 10
- World’s2ndWorld-leading exports Unwrought aluminiumUS$7.4 bn · 9.3% of world exports of 161 exporters · 2024 CEPII BACI, January 2026 release See the top 10
- World’s3rdWorld-leading exports Diamonds (unmounted)Diamonds, whether or not worked, but not mounted or setUS$7.7 bn · 10.5% of world exports of 120 exporters · 2024 CEPII BACI, January 2026 release See the top 10
- World’s3rdTax-treaty network Income-tax treaties in force112 of 100 treaty networks we hold the tax authority's own list (tax-treaties collection) See the top 10
- World’s4thLogistics and freight Air freight carried13,566 million tonne-km of 137 economies · 2023 World Bank, World Development Indicators See the top 10
- World’s joint7thLogistics and freight Logistics Performance Index4.0 of 5 of 138 economies · 2022 World Bank, World Development Indicators See the top 12
- World’s9thLogistics and freight Container port traffic19.2 million TEU of 118 economies · 2021 World Bank, World Development Indicators See the top 10
- World’s10thForeign investment Foreign direct investment received, a year on averageUS$41.5 bn of 182 economies · 2023–2025 World Bank, World Development Indicators See the top 10
A rank is among everything the source reports for that year, so it moves when the source adds or drops economies. Exports include goods passing through for re-export. Nothing here is a recommendation.
Doing business here
Business accounts
Providers whose own published list of countries names United Arab Emirates. A listing means a company formed here may apply, not that it will be accepted.
Not in our records No provider's country list has been read for United Arab Emirates.
Payments and payroll
Services for taking payments, paying people and moving money, as each states where a business based in United Arab Emirates may open an account.
StripeOpen to a business based herelist read 18 Aug 2026
WiseOpen to a business based herelist read 18 Aug 2026
DeelOpen to a business based herelist read 18 Aug 2026
AdyenOpen to a business based herelist read 18 Aug 2026
For individuals only here: PayPal.
Not available here: Revolut, Square.
EU listings
Two lists a bank checks when it opens an account for a company or its owner.
- EU high-risk third countries (AML)
- Not listed
- EU non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes
- Not listedOfficial EUR-Lex, 52026XG01465, Annex I as of 2026-02-17
Official sites
The authorities’ own sites for UAE · IFZA (Dubai): where to register, file and check.
Blocs and agreements
The trade arrangements United Arab Emirates belongs to, as each arrangement’s own texts state them: since when, and what each covers. What a membership means for a business is for you to judge.
UAE · IFZA (Dubai)’s own position
- Customs territory
- United Arab Emirates (GCC customs union): free zone, part of the State's territory but outside the customs territory
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It is part of the state’s territory, but it is considered to be outside the customs territory.
- VAT territory
- United Arab Emirates (UAE VAT): not named on the FTA list of Designated Zones retrieved, so treated like any other part of the UAE
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Where a Free Zone is not a Designated Zone, it is treated like any other part of the UAE.
- Gulf Cooperation Council: customs union and common market
- In part
The zone lies in the UAE, a state of the GCC customs union (union commenced 1 January 2003, ICP). The GCC Common Customs Law defines a free zone as part of the state's territory whose goods are outside the customs zone, and treats goods taken from a free zone into the customs office as foreign goods (Art. 85); the UAE Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) states that goods imported from free zones are subject to duty on exit. Rule text is the English reference translation published by the GCC Secretariat (the Arabic text is binding). The UAE customs rule is stated here for free zones generally; no text read names this zone specifically.
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It is part of the state’s territory, but it is considered to be outside the customs territory.
United Arab Emirates as a whole
- Gulf Cooperation Council: customs union and common market
- Customs union · since 25 May 1981
Covers goods, a common external tariff, movement of people, services, establishment, capital, investment.
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The Cooperation Council shall be formed of the six states that participated in the Foreign Ministers' meeting held in Riyadh on 4 February 1981.
Regional and customs arrangements only, 36 of them; bilateral trade agreements are not yet in our records.
Tax
Company tax
Tax, and what the company owes the registry each year.
- Corporate income tax
- 9%
- Distributions
- Not in our records
- Audit
- Not in our records
- Small-company relief
- Not in our records
- Annual obligations
- Not in our records
- Annual registry fee
- Not in our records
VAT
The tax on what the company sells in United Arab Emirates, and when it must register, as the tax authority states it.
- Standard rate
- 5%
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VAT 5% (AED)
- Other rates
- Not stated
- Registration threshold
- AED 375,000 · about €89,335
total value of taxable supplies and imports; previous 12 months, or expected within the next 30 days
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Businesses resident in the UAE: Registration for VAT is mandatory if: - The total value of taxable supplies and imports exceeds AED 375,000 over the past 12 months, or is expected to exceed that threshold within the next 30 days.
- Voluntary registration
- Yes
A resident business below the mandatory threshold may register voluntarily once its taxable supplies, imports or taxable expenses exceed AED 187,500 in the past 12 months or are expected to within 30 days.
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Businesses resident in the UAE that make taxable supplies may register voluntarily for VAT if: - The total value of taxable supplies, imports, or taxable expenses in the past 12 months, or expected in the next 30 days, exceeds AED 187,500 (the voluntary registration threshold).
- A foreign company
- Registers from its first taxable supply; no local representative required
A non-resident business must register for VAT if it makes taxable supplies in the UAE, even where the value of those supplies does not exceed the AED 375,000 threshold, unless another party in the UAE is responsible for settling the VAT on those supplies. Registration is made directly through an EmaraTax account; no representative is required.
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Non-resident businesses: VAT registration is mandatory if: - The business makes taxable supplies in the UAE, even if the value of supplies does not exceed the threshold, unless there is another party in the UAE responsible for settling the VAT on those supplies.
- Returns filed
- Depends on the business
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Once you have registered for VAT in the UAE, you are required to file your VAT return and make related VAT payments within 28 days from the end of your tax period.
- Tax authority
- Registration page read 2026-10-22
Tax calendar
When the main returns and payments fall due in United Arab Emirates, tax year 2025, as the tax authority states it.
- Corporate tax return
- 9 months after the end of the accounting period · each year
a Taxable Person must file a Tax Return no later than nine months from the end of the relevant Tax Period — 30 September 2026 for a financial year ended 31 December 2025. Filed through the EmaraTax platform.
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a Taxable Person must file a Tax Return, as applicable, to the Authority in the form and manner prescribed by the Authority no later than (9) nine months from the end of the relevant Tax Period
- Corporate tax, final payment
- 9 months after the end of the accounting period · each year
under Article 48 of the Corporate Tax Law a Taxable Person must settle the Corporate Tax Payable within nine months from the end of the relevant Tax Period — the same date as the Tax Return.
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A Taxable Person must settle the Corporate Tax Payable under this Decree-Law within (9) nine months from the end of the relevant Tax Period, or by such other date as determined by the Authority
- Corporate tax, instalments
- Not required here
The Corporate Tax Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022) imposes no advance or instalment payment obligation: the Corporate Tax Payable is settled once, within nine months from the end of the Tax Period, and the FTA's guide records the same single payment deadline.
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A Taxable Person must settle the Corporate Tax Payable under this Decree-Law within (9) nine months from the end of the relevant Tax Period
- Personal income-tax return
- Not levied here
The UAE levies no personal income tax: the FTA records that the UAE does not have an equivalent tax on the income of natural persons, and wage, personal investment and real estate investment income of a natural person are outside the Corporate Tax regime. A natural person only enters the Corporate Tax regime through a Business or Business Activity with turnover above AED 1 million, which is the corporate row above.
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As the UAE does not have an equivalent tax on the income of natural persons
- Personal income tax, final payment
- Not levied here
No personal income tax is levied, so there is no individual balancing payment to state.
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As the UAE does not have an equivalent tax on the income of natural persons
- Personal income tax, instalments
- Not levied here
No personal income tax is levied, so no advance payments on account of it arise.
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As the UAE does not have an equivalent tax on the income of natural persons
- VAT return
- 28 days after the end of the quarter · each quarter
the VAT return and any VAT payment are due no later than 28 days from the end of each tax period (the standard tax period is three months, so a quarter ending 31 March is due 28 May), or on the following working day if the date falls on an official holiday or a weekend.
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Once you have registered for VAT in the UAE, you are required to file your VAT return and make related VAT payments within 28 days from the end of your tax period
- Payroll withholding
- Not levied here
Salaries are not subject to any UAE withholding tax: no personal income tax is levied and the FTA's Corporate Tax regime expressly leaves wage income of a natural person outside its scope. Payroll compliance for employers is the WPS and GPSSA contributions for national employees, which are not income-tax withholding.
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As the UAE does not have an equivalent tax on the income of natural persons
Running the company
Running a company here
What it takes to keep a company in good standing in United Arab Emirates: the full guide is on each form’s own page.
Running a Limited Liability Company (LLC)
21 obligations for one shareholder who is the sole director, with who may do each, when, and how.
- The director can do
- 19 of its 21 obligations
personally, through the authorities’ own services.
- A professional the law requires
- A licensed auditor Appoint a licensed auditor and have the annual accounts audited
- Not required here
- Identity verification of managers with the registry · Advance or instalment payments of Corporate Tax · Registration or fee with the data-protection authority · Economic Substance notification and report, cancelled for years ending after 2022 (abolished)
- Set by each state
- Renew the economic licence with the emirate each year · Local chamber membership and municipal charges on the business
Not yet covered: PJSC, General Partnership (Joint Liability Company), Limited Partnership Company (Simple Commandite), Sole Establishment (sole proprietorship). Each form has its own requirements.
Economy and trade
What it exports
Goods United Arab Emirates exported, by product, as a share of its goods exports each year. Exports include goods passing through for re-export. A share describes United Arab Emirates’s own trade; it does not compare places.
Figures for United Arab Emirates as a whole.
| Product (HS heading) | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Value, 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude HS 2709 | 31.0% | 28.1% | 37.0% | US$114.4 bn |
| Gold (including gold plated with platinum), unwrought or in semi-manufactured forms, or in powder form HS 7108 | 7.6% | 12.2% | 18.7% | US$57.9 bn |
| Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, other than crude; preparations not elsewhere specified or included, containing by weight 70 % or more of petroleum oils or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals, these oils being the basic constituents of the preparations; waste oils HS 2710 | 14.8% | 14.4% | 14.9% | US$46.2 bn |
| Petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons HS 2711 | 4.0% | 3.5% | 4.7% | US$14.6 bn |
| Diamonds, whether or not worked, but not mounted or set HS 7102 | 3.7% | 3.1% | 2.5% | US$7.7 bn |
| Unwrought aluminium HS 7601 | 2.0% | 1.8% | 2.4% | US$7.4 bn |
| Articles of jewellery and parts thereof, of precious metal or of metal clad with precious metal HS 7113 | 2.1% | 2.4% | 1.6% | US$4.9 bn |
| Polymers of ethylene, in primary forms HS 3901 | 1.2% | 1.0% | 1.3% | US$4 bn |
| Copper wire HS 7408 | 0.68% | 0.66% | 0.80% | US$2.5 bn |
| Silver (including silver plated with gold or platinum), unwrought or in semi-manufactured forms, or in powder form HS 7106 | under 0.05% | 0.19% | 0.68% | US$2.1 bn |
Total goods exports, 2024: US$309.6 bn. The ten largest headings are shown.