Business licensing in the UAE

Selecting your business license

Choosing the right business license is one of the most difficult and important stages.

In the UAE, a license is a kind of criterion for evaluating your reliability, solvency and professionalism. Therefore, make sure to choose a license that most closely matches your real business activity and pick a license in the territory that provides the maximum benefits and opportunities for doing business in your chosen markets.

For a quick and accurate licensing process, you need to analyze the many factors that make up a business idea. The analysis takes into account:

Region of activity Depending on the strategy of doing business in the local market of the UAE, or overseas, a specific business jurisdiction is determined which will provide the most favorable conditions for the development of this strategy, and help to achieve maximum profit.

Field of activity Possibility of obtaining a license for the chosen business activity in a certain region of jurisdiction, and also the ability of combining different business licenses within one company.

Confirmation of status If it is necessary to impress counterparties, a more significant entity is selected in order to ensure higher status. Also, this solution can be used to establish a more loyal relationship with local banks.

A requirement in complex structure To resolve demanding tasks, it may be necessary to organize a complex structure with the participation of several companies registered in the UAE. This will allow you to effectively manage your existing business resources.

Confirming the center for decision making For business purposes, the task may be to confirm the center for making management decisions, as well as the need to control the business in the UAE in accordance with the tax laws of the main country of business. This factor is also important to consider when choosing a license.

Confirmation of tax residency It is necessary to take into account whether the business needs a tax residency certificate for a company registered in the UAE in order to use preferential taxation, refund previously paid tax, as well as for shareholders of the company in order to protect against automatic exchange of information. Not all registered entities are able receive this status.