Is There Anything That I Must Know Before Setting Up a Business in Dubai?

Is There Anything That I Must Know Before Setting Up a Business in Dubai?

When choosing an ideal location for business setup, Dubai is often the top choice for many entrepreneurs and companies that want to expand overseas. While Dubai is literally one of the best business hubs around the world, there are several things that you should be familiar with before you actually start forming your company in Dubai. ➢ The Difference between Mainland, Freezone, and Offshore Dubai offers three jurisdictions that come with their own benefits and limitations.

• Mainland • Free Zone • Offshore While free zones are special economic zones (SEZs) that offer significant tax concessions and customs duty benefits to expat investors, mainland is the region that is outside of a free zone within Dubai emirate.

On the other hand, offshore jurisdiction is mainly for non-resident “paper” companies that don’t need to own office space in the UAE and wish to conduct international business (not in Dubai and the rest of the UAE), enjoy relaxed regulations, and avoid taxes while keeping their records confidential.

If you set up a free zone company, you can do business within that free zone and outside the UAE. To carry out your business in Dubai mainland, you will need to obtain a permit from the DED (the requirement of opening another office or appointing a locally appointed distributor has lifted now).

However, if you set up a mainland company, you can do your business locally as well as internationally.

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