Eighteen things to know before you pay anyone in the UAE
By Malik, Founder · Prices checked
Most of these cost an agency a fee, which is why an agency rarely mentions them. Each one is read on an official source and carries its date.
Free or discounted (2)
twofour54 waives licence and registration for two years, company or freelance
Under an Abu Dhabi government resolution effective 1 December 2018, the Creative Media Authority waives licensing and registration fees for new partners and freelancers for their first two years. The 15,000 AED company licence, the 3,500 AED registration and the freelance packages are all cancelled in full, and the first renewal is waived too. Beyond five activities for a company, or three for a freelancer, each extra activity still costs 1,000 AED.
A founder in media, gaming or content saves roughly 18,500 AED in year one and 12,500 AED in year two.
Creative Media Authority, official fee schedule
An Abu Dhabi virtual licence costs 850 AED and is obtained from abroad
A foreign investor may apply for the Abu Dhabi Virtual Licence from anywhere outside the country for an application fee of 850 AED, plus the federal fees set by the chosen activity and legal form. It gives you an Abu Dhabi economic licence before you undertake, separately, any residence permit step.
Testing an activity in the country without living there, and without buying a visa package, costs under 1,000 AED in application fees.
u.ae, virtual licence
Little known right (4)
Sell on the Dubai mainland without leaving your free zone, for 5,000 AED
Executive Council Decision 11 of 2025 created the Free Zone Mainland Operating Permit. A Dubai free zone company holding a Dubai Unified Licence may sell locally, join local supply chains and bid for public tenders. The permit costs 5,000 AED, runs six months and renews at the same price. First phase covers technology, consulting, design, professional services and trading. You keep separate accounts and the mainland revenue is taxed at 9 percent.
10,000 AED a year replaces opening a full mainland company with its own office, visa sponsor and licence.
mediaoffice.ae, 8 October 2025
That 10,000 AED penalty can be cancelled, and refunded if you already paid it
The Federal Tax Authority waives the late registration penalty if you file your tax return, or your annual declaration, within seven months of the end of your first tax period instead of the usual nine. The waiver applies whatever the reason for the delay, including to those who had not filed at all. If the penalty has already been paid it is refunded and credited to your account with the authority.
Two months earlier on one filing, and you get 10,000 AED back.
Federal Tax Authority, announcement
A designated free zone sits outside the VAT territory for goods
Designated free zones are treated as outside the territory of the UAE for VAT purposes. A supply of goods inside a designated free zone falls outside the scope of VAT as long as the goods are not consumed in the country, or are consumed outside the free zone. Not every free zone is a designated free zone: the list is fixed by Cabinet decision.
For trading, storage or reshipping, picking a free zone that is also a designated free zone saves you fronting 5 percent VAT on every import.
Federal Tax Authority, Cabinet Decision 88 of 2021
Keep your job and run a second activity legally, for 600 AED
Emiratis, GCC nationals and expatriates resident on a work visa may take a second job through a part time work permit from the Ministry of Human Resources, valid one year, for less than eight hours a day, between 18 and 65. Family visa holders may also do it with a no objection certificate from their sponsor. The fees are 100 AED to apply and 500 AED on approval. Employing someone without this permit exposes the company to a 50,000 AED fine.
You can start and invoice a side activity legally for 600 AED, without incorporating and without leaving your job.
u.ae, part time work permit
Tax (4)
Zero corporate tax up to 3 AED million of turnover, but only until 31 December 2026
Small Business Relief lets a resident business with turnover at or below 3,000,000 AED in a tax period be treated as having no taxable income. It applies to tax periods starting on or after 1 June 2023 and stops applying to periods ending after 31 December 2026. The threshold is on turnover, not on profit.
You pay nothing below 3 AED million today, and the deadline is now close enough that your accounts need to be ready for what comes after.
Ministry of Finance, Ministerial Decision 73 of 2023
A person is taxed only above 1 AED million of business turnover, salary and property excluded
A natural person must register for corporate tax only if turnover from business activity exceeds 1,000,000 AED in a calendar year. Three sources are expressly excluded from that calculation: employment income, personal investment income and real estate investment income. The reference is Cabinet Decision 49 of 2023.
A freelancer billing under 1 AED million a year has no corporate tax registration duty, and rent received does not count towards the threshold.
Federal Tax Authority, Cabinet Decision 49 of 2023
You can register for VAT on your expenses alone, before you earn anything
Registration is compulsory above 375,000 AED of taxable supplies and imports over the past twelve months, or if that threshold will be crossed within thirty days. Voluntary registration starts at 187,500 AED, and the point almost nobody uses is that this second threshold can be reached by taxable expenses as well as by supplies.
A startup still investing and not yet selling can register on its spending and reclaim the VAT it pays on purchases.
Federal Tax Authority
The free zone zero percent breaks at 5 percent of turnover, not at 5 AED million
To stay a Qualifying Free Zone Person and keep the zero rate on qualifying income, non qualifying revenue must not exceed 5 percent of total turnover for the period, or 5,000,000 AED, whichever is lower. The lower of the two is what binds.
A company turning over 40 AED million may not exceed 2 AED million of non qualifying sales, because the 5 percent cap bites long before the 5 AED million one.
Ministry of Finance, Ministerial Decision 229 of 2025
Visa (2)
Green Visa for the self-employed: five years, no sponsor, 360,000 AED a year
Five years renewable, with no sponsor and no employer, and the right to sponsor your family. It requires a freelance or self-employment permit from the Ministry of Human Resources, a bachelor degree, specialised diploma or equivalent, and self-employment income of at least 360,000 AED a year over the two preceding years.
A freelancer at 30,000 AED a month gets five years of residence without depending on a free zone or buying a visa package.
ICP, UAE Green Residency
The Golden Visa removes the six month absence rule
The official portal states a minimum capital of 2,000,000 AED for the investor category, or a stake in a business paying at least 250,000 AED a year in tax. For entrepreneurs the term is five years and the file requires proof of an innovative or technical project and a letter from a business incubator or the competent authority of the emirate. Three structural advantages are listed: no sponsor needed, the right to stay outside the country for more than six months without losing residence, and the right to sponsor spouse and children.
For someone living between two countries, lifting the six month rule is what actually separates a Golden Visa from an ordinary investor visa.
u.ae, Golden Visa
Cost trap (3)
Three months to register for corporate tax, then an automatic 10,000 AED penalty
Any company incorporated in the UAE on or after 1 March 2024 must file its corporate tax registration within three months of incorporation. Cabinet Decision 10 of 2024 sets the late registration penalty at 10,000 AED. Registration itself is free and takes minutes. A natural person registers by 31 March of the year following the year the threshold was passed.
This is the single most expensive thing a new founder forgets, and it costs nothing to avoid.
Federal Tax Authority, Decision 3 of 2024
Closing a company without deregistering from VAT costs 10,000 AED
Late deregistration is penalised at 1,000 AED, then 1,000 AED more on the same date every month, capped at 10,000 AED. Late payment of tax carries a monthly penalty amounting to 14 percent a year on the unpaid amount from the day after it fell due.
The counter runs quietly for ten months and is often discovered years later.
Ministry of Finance, Cabinet Decision 40 of 2017, consolidated
The visa price is never the final price
The identity authority charges 100 AED per year of residence for the Emirates ID, plus 100 AED of smart service fee, plus 150 AED for urgent processing at a centre. In Dubai the health authority prices the fitness medical at 250 AED in the standard twenty four working hour route, 700 AED express and 1,020 AED VIP. Health cover is compulsory, and the ministry launched a basic package at 320 AED a year on 1 January 2025 for private sector staff in five emirates.
These compulsory lines add several hundred to over a thousand dirhams per person per visa, and are almost never inside the advertised package price.
Federal Identity Authority, Dubai Health Authority, Ministry of Human Resources
Obligation (3)
Every free zone company on the zero rate must have audited accounts, however small
Audited financial statements are required from any taxable person with turnover above 50,000,000 AED, and in every case from any Qualifying Free Zone Person, with no revenue threshold at all. This applies to tax periods starting on or after 1 January 2025.
The yearly audit fee is never in a setup package, and it is what keeps your zero rate alive.
Ministry of Finance, Ministerial Decision 84 of 2025
Economic Substance reporting no longer exists for years ending after 2022
Cabinet Decision 98 of 2024 cancelled Economic Substance notification and reporting for financial years ending after 31 December 2022. Businesses remain answerable for earlier years and for penalties already issued, and must still answer requests for information.
An agency still billing you a yearly Economic Substance service for 2023 or later is billing an obligation that no longer exists.
Ministry of Finance, 14 October 2024
Crossing twenty employees triggers Emiratisation
Private companies with fifty employees or more must raise the share of Emiratis in skilled roles by 2 percent a year. Companies with twenty to forty nine employees in designated sectors must hire at least one Emirati from 2024 and at least two from 2025. The financial contribution for not doing so reached 96,000 AED for 2024 and 108,000 AED for 2025.
Twenty employees is a real economic step to plan for in a hiring roadmap. The official source does not state how free zone companies are treated, so ask the free zone: we check with the zone for you.
u.ae and Ministry of Human Resources
