Here's the story of how I set up my Dubai Freezone company in just 2 days and got my Emirates ID within 5 days, all by myself. And the best part is, you can do it too by following these simple steps.
I love what you are doing Kristina. Insightful post.
I am thinking of setting up a company in the UAE as an IT Consultant. I have gotten quite from Meydan and Rakez and the latter seems cheaper but they all have ad on services like extra charge to open an account. From your post you mention it is now easier to do by oneself, how easy is it?
Most likely you don't need additional services as EID priority support, bank account, accounting. Only take it if you literally want 0 time spent on this.
EID - you can go to Smart Salem yourself and get it for 1/3 price
bank account - try Wio and if they won't open the account for you, pay the FZ to do it
accounting - register for corporate tax yourself, for free, then go with Finanshels, they have special rate for my readers and I personally recommend them
Make sure Rakez has a digital self service that's easy to use, where you can manage license renewals and visa. Meydan does this well and that's why I chose them. Happy to connect you with my contact there and split the referral (500 AED for you). Email kristina@melsova.com if you need more info :) And best of luck!
Thanks a million for this post. I was already thinking of meydan and this article confirmed it for me for my e-commerce company. Can we do the referral thing ? Please email me info@la-gent.com
Hey Kristina, right now I run D2R ( direct to retail ) business where Im helping skin care brand or manufacture distribute and reach new potential market in Indonesia, it still brick and mortal business where most of the transaction through whatsApp, since the business scale right now our team develope MVP app work as B2B marketplace where brand can list their product and get direct order from independent retail.
Long story short we found that being able to expand to UEA market is one of skin care brand owner dream in Indonesia and thats way maybe in this end year I will challenge my self to setup exim / trade company in Dubai .
I have some question and its really help a lot if you can give me advices.
- if our business is trading but we will use mobile app and website ( I believe they call it e-portal in UEA ) and have plan to submit it as tech startup too on which area you will recomend to us ? Where suitable for tech startup but also backed by exim company ( must has at least small warehouse )
- if we also need to do offline marketing something like build good relationship with other exim company and retail / wholesales / store in mainland, what legal work we must have to be able to do that.
Sorry for long comment :).. thank for your time :)
~21k AED business license + 1 visa with Meydan. Can be a bit cheaper with FZ outside Dubai (but not sure if I'd recommend). Or a lot more expensive if you go with DIFC, DMCC etc. Depends really what you need for your business.
Feel free to use the referral with Meydan on askfounder.ae (700 AED off), if you decide to set up directly with them.
For example "business activities within the UAE, over 375k AED. " - what does that actually mean?
Hypothetical example: In 1yr. period, i can buy merchandise for 100k, sell it for 105k, then repeat one more time. That would put me above 375k threshold, while in reality i made profit only 10k.
Hi Zlatha, since writing this article, a lot has changed and the rules are different. I recommend reading the FAQ at the FTA website (https://tax.gov.ae/en/taxes/corporate.tax/faqs.aspx) or connect with an accounting firm for consultation.
As I understand it, the rules got more complex and it depends what is your company doing and with whom. The limits are also different, for different categories.
The principle of corporate tax is to tax profit, so if you're in loss and have good bookkeeping, you obviously don't pay tax.
Hey, in general, "6. Register for corporate tax." in this article should help to understand it. But if you need more, I recommend asking Google or the FZ you're registered at.
Very valuable post!
thank you!
What's your email? I'd like to ask you a few questions and wouldn't mind using your ref link :)
I love what you are doing Kristina. Insightful post.
I am thinking of setting up a company in the UAE as an IT Consultant. I have gotten quite from Meydan and Rakez and the latter seems cheaper but they all have ad on services like extra charge to open an account. From your post you mention it is now easier to do by oneself, how easy is it?
Glad it's useful!
Most likely you don't need additional services as EID priority support, bank account, accounting. Only take it if you literally want 0 time spent on this.
EID - you can go to Smart Salem yourself and get it for 1/3 price
bank account - try Wio and if they won't open the account for you, pay the FZ to do it
accounting - register for corporate tax yourself, for free, then go with Finanshels, they have special rate for my readers and I personally recommend them
Make sure Rakez has a digital self service that's easy to use, where you can manage license renewals and visa. Meydan does this well and that's why I chose them. Happy to connect you with my contact there and split the referral (500 AED for you). Email kristina@melsova.com if you need more info :) And best of luck!
Thanks a million for this post. I was already thinking of meydan and this article confirmed it for me for my e-commerce company. Can we do the referral thing ? Please email me info@la-gent.com
Glad to hear the post is useful! Just dropped you an email.
Hey Kristina, right now I run D2R ( direct to retail ) business where Im helping skin care brand or manufacture distribute and reach new potential market in Indonesia, it still brick and mortal business where most of the transaction through whatsApp, since the business scale right now our team develope MVP app work as B2B marketplace where brand can list their product and get direct order from independent retail.
Long story short we found that being able to expand to UEA market is one of skin care brand owner dream in Indonesia and thats way maybe in this end year I will challenge my self to setup exim / trade company in Dubai .
I have some question and its really help a lot if you can give me advices.
- if our business is trading but we will use mobile app and website ( I believe they call it e-portal in UEA ) and have plan to submit it as tech startup too on which area you will recomend to us ? Where suitable for tech startup but also backed by exim company ( must has at least small warehouse )
- if we also need to do offline marketing something like build good relationship with other exim company and retail / wholesales / store in mainland, what legal work we must have to be able to do that.
Sorry for long comment :).. thank for your time :)
This is a long one :D not really sure if I understand everything.
If you're planning to sell physical products within a UAE, you need Mainland license. Also, I don't know what is "exim company".
There are multiple startup accelerators and incubators. Hope you'll find the one that's focusing on your niche.
In terms of offline marketing, just use an agency, the market is unique and you need someone who understands it in and out.
Hope this helps, if you want some more personalized advice or detailed resources, check shop.melsova.com
Hi, thank for your kind replay..:) and sorry if it to long.. I just to exited for this challenge.
Exim company mean Export Import.
Great post Kristina thanks!
So how much in total do you think this could cost on the low side?
~21k AED business license + 1 visa with Meydan. Can be a bit cheaper with FZ outside Dubai (but not sure if I'd recommend). Or a lot more expensive if you go with DIFC, DMCC etc. Depends really what you need for your business.
Feel free to use the referral with Meydan on askfounder.ae (700 AED off), if you decide to set up directly with them.
Thank you. Very helpful article.
Few things are not very clear tho.
For example "business activities within the UAE, over 375k AED. " - what does that actually mean?
Hypothetical example: In 1yr. period, i can buy merchandise for 100k, sell it for 105k, then repeat one more time. That would put me above 375k threshold, while in reality i made profit only 10k.
Did you mean a profit above 375k?
Hi Zlatha, since writing this article, a lot has changed and the rules are different. I recommend reading the FAQ at the FTA website (https://tax.gov.ae/en/taxes/corporate.tax/faqs.aspx) or connect with an accounting firm for consultation.
As I understand it, the rules got more complex and it depends what is your company doing and with whom. The limits are also different, for different categories.
The principle of corporate tax is to tax profit, so if you're in loss and have good bookkeeping, you obviously don't pay tax.
Hope that helped :)
Thank you
What about corporate tax rate of 9%?
Hey, in general, "6. Register for corporate tax." in this article should help to understand it. But if you need more, I recommend asking Google or the FZ you're registered at.
https://tax.gov.ae also has a very comprehensive FAQ section.
Good luck!