Bahrain
Bahrain: 7 company types, its taxes, banking and business environment, and what it is known for.
Forming a company
Company types in Bahrain
The 7 forms a founder can choose here, each with its own figures. Open one for its sources.
What it is known for
Where Bahrain 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.
- World’s1stWorld-leading exports Aluminium wireUS$664 m · 11.7% of world exports of 110 exporters · 2024 CEPII BACI, January 2026 release 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 Bahrain. 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 Bahrain.
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 Bahrain: where to register, file and check.
Blocs and agreements
The trade arrangements Bahrain 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.
- 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.
Quote
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
- 0%
- 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 Bahrain, and when it must register, as the tax authority states it.
- Standard rate
- 10%
The standard rate has been 10% since 1 January 2022, raised from 5%.
Quote
واعتبارًا من 1 يناير 2022، تم تعديل النسبة الأساسية للقيمة المضافة على أن تكون بنسبة 10%.
- Other rates
- 0% Zero-rated supplies
- Registration threshold
- BHD 37,500
annual taxable supplies (standard-rated and zero-rated); annual taxable supplies, actual or expected
Quote
التسجيل لأغراض القيمة المضافة في حال تجاوزت قيمة التوريدات السنوية الخاضعة للقيمة المضافة (الخاضعة للنسبة الأساسية ونسبة الصفر بالمئة) حد التسجيل الإلزامي البالغ 37,500 دينار بحريني
- Voluntary registration
- Yes
A business whose annual expenses or taxable supplies exceed BHD 18,750 may register voluntarily.
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يمكن للمنشآت والأفراد التسجيل اختياريًا ممن تفوق نفقاتهم أو توريداتهم السنوية الخاضعة للقيمة المضافة 18,750 دينار بحريني
- A foreign company
- Registers from its first taxable supply; no local representative required
A non-resident without a place of business or fixed establishment in Bahrain that supplies non-VAT-registered persons there must register within 30 days of the first taxable supply, regardless of the annual thresholds; supplies to VAT-registered persons are not registered but reverse-charged. A non-resident may register directly or appoint a VAT representative.
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الذين يقومون بالتوريد لأشخاص غير خاضعين للقيمة المضافة في مملكة البحرين، يتعين عليهم التسجيل للقيمة المضافة خلال ثلاثين يوماً من أول توريد خاضع للقيمة المضافة في مملكة البحرين بغض النظر عن حدود التوريدات السنوية المذكورة أعلاه
- Returns filed
- Depends on the business
Quote
تنقسم فترات القيمة المضافة إلى شهرية، سنوية وربع سنوية وذلك حسب ما يلي
- Tax authority
- Registration page read 2026-10-22
Tax calendar
When the main returns and payments fall due in Bahrain, tax year 2025, as the tax authority states it.
- Corporate tax return
- Not in our records
nbr.gov.bh inaccessible when checked
- Corporate tax, final payment
- Not in our records
nbr.gov.bh inaccessible when checked
- Corporate tax, instalments
- Not in our records
nbr.gov.bh inaccessible when checked
- Personal income-tax return
- Not in our records
nbr.gov.bh inaccessible when checked
- Personal income tax, final payment
- Not in our records
nbr.gov.bh inaccessible when checked
- Personal income tax, instalments
- Not in our records
nbr.gov.bh inaccessible when checked
- VAT return
- Not in our records
nbr.gov.bh inaccessible when checked
- Payroll withholding
- Not in our records
nbr.gov.bh inaccessible when checked
Running the company
Running a company here
Not in our records The authorities’ pages on running a company have not been read for Bahrain yet.
Economy and trade
What it exports
Goods Bahrain exported, by product, as a share of its goods exports each year. Exports include goods passing through for re-export. A share describes Bahrain’s own trade; it does not compare places.
| Product (HS heading) | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Value, 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 18.7% | 28.1% | 26.6% | US$4.8 bn |
| Unwrought aluminium HS 7601 | 23.7% | 17.6% | 19.9% | US$3.6 bn |
| Iron ores and concentrates, including roasted iron pyrites HS 2601 | 10.4% | 9.8% | 9.8% | US$1.8 bn |
| Aluminium wire HS 7605 | 3.3% | 3.6% | 3.7% | US$664 m |
| Turbojets, turbopropellers and other gas turbines HS 8411 | 0.55% | 1.6% | 3.0% | US$551 m |
| Aluminium plates, sheets and strip, of a thickness exceeding 0,2 mm HS 7606 | 2.6% | 2.0% | 2.5% | US$452 m |
| Cheese and curd HS 0406 | 1.9% | 2.3% | 2.4% | US$435 m |
| Structures (excluding prefabricated buildings of heading 9406) and parts of structures (for example, bridges and bridge-sections, lock-gates, towers, lattice masts, roofs, roofing frameworks, doors and windows and their frames and thresholds for doors, shutters, balustrades, pillars and columns), of iron or steel; plates, rods, angles, shapes, sections, tubes and the like, prepared for use in structures, of iron or steel HS 7308 | 1.7% | 2.3% | 2.1% | US$388 m |
| Stranded wire, cables, plaited bands and the like, of aluminium, not electrically insulated HS 7614 | 1.1% | 1.4% | 1.6% | US$288 m |
| Mineral or chemical fertilisers, nitrogenous HS 3102 | 2.1% | 1.5% | 1.6% | US$284 m |
Total goods exports, 2024: US$18.2 bn. The ten largest headings are shown.