Insights Business Setup
Business Setup in Dubai From the USA: No Tax Treaty, and the Filings You Still Owe
Business setup in Dubai from the USA: there is no US-UAE tax treaty, and FBAR, Form 8938 and Form 5471 still apply. The UAE side and the US side, kept apart.
Key takeaways
- There is no US–UAE income tax treaty. The UAE does not appear on the IRS list of income tax treaties, and the US does not appear among the UAE's 137 published agreements.
- US founders can own a UAE mainland company 100% — Federal Decree-Law No. 26 of 2020 (consolidated in No. 32 of 2021) removed the 51% Emirati-ownership rule for most activities.
- FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR) is due once foreign accounts exceed $10,000 in aggregate at any point in the year — a threshold a new company account clears immediately.
- Form 8938 thresholds for a taxpayer living abroad start at $200,000 (single) and $400,000 (joint) on the last day of the tax year.
- The UAE side is genuinely light: no personal income tax, corporate tax 0% to AED 375,000 then 9%, and 5% VAT only past the registration threshold.
- The US is an Apostille Convention party; the UAE is not — so an apostille alone will not make a US document usable in Dubai.
For a founder in the United States, Dubai has an obvious appeal: a fast-growing market, a time zone that sits between the Americas and Asia, and a business environment that welcomes foreign ownership. Setting up a UAE company from the US is very doable. But the American position differs from every other founder nationality in two specific, checkable ways, and almost everything that goes wrong for US founders traces back to one of them.
The first is that there is no income tax treaty between the United States and the United Arab Emirates. The second is that the United States taxes its citizens and green-card holders on worldwide income wherever they live. Neither fact is obscure. Both are absent from most Dubai setup marketing.
This guide covers the UAE side of setting up a Dubai company from the USA, and is explicit about where the US side begins. It does not advise on your US tax position, because that is a specialist question for a US tax professional.
The treaty that does not exist
Start here, because it reframes everything downstream.
The IRS publishes a list of United States income tax treaties A to Z. Under “U” it shows Ukraine, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United Kingdom. The United Arab Emirates is not on it.
Checking from the UAE side gives the same answer. The Ministry of Finance states that the UAE has concluded 137 DTAs with most of its major trading partners, and publishes the schedule of those agreements. The United States is not among them.
| Founder’s home country | Income tax treaty with the UAE? | Source position |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Yes | Signed 12 April 2016, entered into force 25 December 2016, effective from 1 January 2017 (GOV.UK) |
| Pakistan | Yes | Signed 7 February 1993, in force 30 November 1994, effective in the UAE from 1 January 1995 (FBR) |
| Türkiye | Yes | Entry 130 on the UAE Ministry of Finance schedule, signed 29 January 1993 |
| United States | No | Absent from the IRS treaty list and from the UAE Ministry of Finance’s 137 agreements |
Sources checked 5 August 2026: IRS, United States Income Tax Treaties — A to Z; UAE Ministry of Finance, Double Taxation Agreements and its published schedule; GOV.UK, United Arab Emirates: tax treaties; Federal Board of Revenue Pakistan, 1993 Income Tax Convention.
There is one bilateral instrument, and it is worth naming precisely so nobody mistakes it for a treaty. The US Treasury publishes an Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Arab Emirates to Improve International Tax Compliance and to Implement FATCA, dated 17 June 2015. That is a reporting agreement. It exists to move account information toward the IRS, not to allocate taxing rights or reduce anyone’s tax.
For contrast, the same decision made from Britain runs against a live treaty — the mechanics are set out in our guide to business setup in Dubai from the UK, and the position is different again for business setup in Dubai from Turkey, where a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement sits alongside the tax treaty.
The filings that follow you to Dubai
Because taxation is by citizenship rather than residence, moving does not end the American filing year — it usually lengthens it. Three information returns come up repeatedly for founders with a UAE company and a UAE bank account.
| Filing | What triggers it | Threshold as the IRS states it | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR) | Foreign financial accounts held by a US person | Combined value “exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year reported" | "Due April 15 following the calendar year reported”, with an automatic extension to 15 October |
| Form 8938 | Specified foreign financial assets, taxpayer living abroad, non-joint return | More than $200,000 on the last day of the tax year, or more than $300,000 at any time during the year | With the income tax return |
| Form 8938 | Specified foreign financial assets, taxpayer living abroad, joint return | More than $400,000 on the last day of the tax year, or more than $600,000 at any time during the year | With the income tax return |
| Form 5471 | Certain US citizens and residents who are officers, directors or shareholders in certain foreign corporations | Per the IRS, filed “to satisfy reporting requirements under sections 6038 and 6046” | With the income tax return |
| Form 2555 (foreign earned income exclusion) | Foreign earned income, if you qualify | IRS: “For tax year 2026, the foreign earned income exclusion is $132,900 up from $130,000 for tax year 2025” | With the income tax return |
Sources: IRS pages on the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), Do I need to file Form 8938, About Form 5471, and the IRS newsroom release Tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026, all checked 5 August 2026.
Read the FBAR row carefully, because its shape catches people. The test is aggregate across accounts, and it is a high-water mark rather than a year-end balance. A single corporate account funded with share capital clears $10,000 on the day it opens. That means the FBAR typically applies from the company’s first year, not from the year it starts making money.
$10,000
Aggregate foreign-account high-water mark that triggers the FBAR — a new UAE company account usually clears it on day one
Source: IRS, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), checked 5 August 2026
Form 5471 deserves its own sentence for a different reason. It is an information return, so it is owed whether or not the UAE company distributes anything and whether or not any US tax is due. Founders who think of themselves as “not yet trading” often assume nothing is required yet. Whether that is right in your case is a question for your US preparer, asked before the first filing season rather than during it.
We are not going to reproduce a US filing calendar here, and you should be sceptical of any UAE firm that does. What we will say is that the UAE-side bookkeeping should be built so a US preparer can use it directly — which is a decision made when the books are opened, not at year end.
Why UAE tax residency does not switch off US filing
A US founder who genuinely relocates will meet a second set of tests. Cabinet Resolution No. 85 of 2022 Concerning Determining the Tax Residence, issued 2 September 2022 and effective 1 March 2023, sets out when a natural person is a UAE tax resident. Any one of its Article 4 conditions is enough.
| Condition, Article 4 | What it requires |
|---|---|
| Centre of interests | The person’s “usual or main place of residence and the centre of his financial and personal interests” are in the UAE |
| 183 days | Physical presence in the UAE for 183 days or more in the relevant 12 consecutive months |
| 90 days with status | Physical presence for 90 days or more in the relevant 12 months, plus UAE or GCC nationality or a valid UAE residence permit, plus either a permanent place of residence in the UAE or practising a job or business in the UAE |
Source: Cabinet Resolution No. 85 of 2022, Article 4, UAE official legislation platform (uaelegislation.gov.ae, checked 4 August 2026). The Resolution defines “Permanent Residence” as “the place located in the State and available to the natural person at all times”.
Here is the part this guide will not soften. None of that reduces a US person’s US obligations. The United States taxes citizens and green-card holders on worldwide income regardless of residence anywhere else, and — critically — there is no US–UAE treaty containing a residence tie-breaker that a certificate could be fed into.
What UAE tax residency does give you is a documented UAE position: useful for third-country treaty purposes, useful to your US adviser as a fact, and irrelevant as a US planning device. The mechanics of obtaining one are in our UAE tax residency certificate guide, and the day-counting is covered in the 183-day rule.
Getting US documents accepted in the UAE
This is the step American founders reliably underestimate, and the reason is instructive: the apostille works everywhere else they operate.
The United States acceded to the Hague Apostille Convention on 24 December 1980, with entry into force on 15 October 1981. So far so familiar. The complication is on the other end. The United Arab Emirates is not a contracting party to the Apostille Convention — it does not appear in the HCCH status table for the Convention at all, unlike Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia, which do.
| Link in the chain | Where it happens | Why it is there |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Notarisation or certification | The US notary, county clerk or Secretary of State, as the document requires | Establishes the document is genuine at source |
| 2. Federal authentication, where required | US Department of State | Needed for federally issued documents and some state chains |
| 3. UAE embassy or consulate legalisation | The UAE mission in the United States | The step an apostille cannot replace, because the UAE is outside the Convention |
| 4. UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs attestation | Inside the UAE | The final stamp UAE authorities act on |
| 5. Legal translation, where required | A UAE-approved legal translator | Arabic version for the licensing authority |
Source for the Convention position: HCCH status table for the Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, checked 5 August 2026. The chain itself is set out in our MOFA attestation guide.
Which documents need this depends entirely on the structure. A sole US shareholder incorporating personally with a passport may need very little. A US corporation joining the UAE cap table has a document project running in parallel that will decide the completion date, because nothing on the UAE side moves until the legalised pack arrives.
You can own it 100%
The headline that matters to a foreign founder: you can own your UAE company outright. Federal Decree-Law No. 26 of 2020, effective in 2021, amended the Commercial Companies Law to permit 100% foreign ownership of mainland companies for most activities, removing the old requirement for a 51% Emirati shareholder or a local service agent. Those changes were consolidated in Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021. Free zone companies have always allowed full foreign ownership.
The UAE Government portal publishes the exceptions, and they are narrow enough to list in full:
| Activity area where full foreign ownership is not permitted |
|---|
| Security, defence and military activities |
| Telecommunications |
| Banking, exchange, financing, insurance and currency production |
| Commercial agencies |
| Hajj and Umrah organising |
| Quran recitation institutes |
| Fish, pearl and marine animal catching |
Source: Full foreign ownership of commercial companies, The Official Platform of the UAE Government (u.ae, checked 4 August 2026). The Cabinet may also designate activities of “strategic impact” with their own licensing requirements.
Two rows catch American founders more often than the others. Commercial agencies is not a general prohibition on distribution — it is a specific regime for holding an exclusive agency for a foreign principal, and it is a different structure from trading on your own account. And financing and insurance are drawn broadly enough that a fintech idea needs the activity confirmed before, not after, the licence is bought.
The UAE tax calendar you inherit
The tax is light. The calendar is not optional, and it starts before there is any tax to pay.
| Obligation | Threshold or trigger | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate tax registration | None — applies to the company regardless of profit | Registration is separate from, and earlier than, any payment |
| Corporate tax at 0% | Taxable income up to AED 375,000 | Article 3, Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 |
| Corporate tax at 9% | Taxable income above AED 375,000 | Same article |
| Small business relief | Revenue not exceeding AED 3,000,000, for tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026 | Ministerial Decision No. 73 of 2023 |
| Natural persons in scope | Turnover exceeding AED 1,000,000 from business in the UAE in a Gregorian calendar year | Cabinet Decision No. 49 of 2023 |
| Qualifying Free Zone Person status | Conditions in the free zone regime | Ministerial Decision No. 229 of 2025; its Article 6 repealed Ministerial Decision No. 265 of 2023 |
| Loss of QFZP status | Failure of the conditions | Lost for the relevant tax period and the four following tax periods, Article 5(2) |
| Audited financial statements | Where required by the corporate tax rules | Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 |
| VAT mandatory registration | AED 375,000 of taxable supplies | Registration compulsory |
| VAT voluntary registration | AED 187,500 | Optional |
The QFZP row is the one to read twice. Free zone status is marketed as a rate; it is a set of conditions tested every year, and Article 5(2) of Ministerial Decision No. 229 of 2025 makes failure expensive in a way a single bad year does not suggest.
The small business relief row has a date on it that is closer than it looks. Relief under Ministerial Decision No. 73 of 2023 runs to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026. If your plan assumes relief beyond that, the plan needs a second version.
[[chart:usa-uae-numbers]]
Records: how long the UAE expects you to keep them
American founders arrive with US retention habits, and UAE retention is longer in places and split by record class.
| Record class | Retention period | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| General accounting and tax records | 7 years | Cabinet Decision No. 74 of 2023, Article 3(1)(c) |
| Capital asset records | 10 years | Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017, Article 60(2) |
| Real estate records | 15 years | VAT Executive Regulations, Article 71(2), as amended by Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2024 |
Fifteen years is not a typo and it is not a general rule — it attaches to real estate records specifically. A UAE company that holds property carries a retention obligation twice as long as its ordinary accounting records.
The UAE-side tax picture is light
This is where Dubai earns its reputation, with the caveat that “light” refers to UAE tax only.
- No personal income tax. The UAE does not levy personal income tax on salaries or personal earnings.
- Corporate tax at 0% / 9%. Under Article 3 of Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, UAE corporate tax is 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above. A separate regime applies to a Qualifying Free Zone Person. The corporate tax basics are worth reading before you choose a structure.
- VAT at 5%, only past a threshold. VAT applies at 5%, but you register only once your taxable supplies pass the registration threshold: mandatory above AED 375,000, voluntary above AED 187,500.
Notice what this list does not say. It does not say your US tax bill goes down. For a US person, the UAE’s low taxes are a genuine cost advantage for the business operating here, sitting underneath a US worldwide-tax system that keeps running — and, because there is no treaty, without the usual bridge between the two.
Mainland or free zone: the real first decision
Tax is not the first fork in the road — market access is.
- Free zone. Full foreign ownership, streamlined setup, a defined regulatory environment, and for eligible businesses the qualifying free-zone regime. It suits many online, trading, consulting and services businesses. Costs vary widely by zone; our guide to free zone licence costs in Dubai is a starting point.
- Mainland. Best where you need to trade directly across the UAE domestic market, open retail premises, or take certain local and government contracts without a distributor.
The trade-offs line up like this once ownership is off the table:
| Consideration | Mainland | Free zone |
|---|---|---|
| Selling directly to UAE customers | Unrestricted | Via customs, a distributor, a branch, or a dual-licence arrangement where offered |
| Government and certain local contracts | Eligible | Generally not |
| Premises | Registered premises in the emirate, licence tied to the address | Provided within the zone, from desk space to warehousing |
| Corporate tax | 0% to AED 375,000, then 9% | Same statutory rates, plus a conditional 0% regime for qualifying income |
| Audited financial statements | Required where the corporate tax rules apply | Often required by the zone at renewal as well |
| Typical fit for a US founder | Selling into the UAE domestic market, retail, contracting locally | Serving international or free-zone clients, services and IP-led businesses |
[[chart:usa-setup-path]]
The last row is where most American businesses land, because so many of them sell software, services or media to customers who are not in the UAE at all. But “most” is not “all”, and a founder planning a UAE retail business who buys a free zone licence because it looked cheaper has bought a permanent distributor between themselves and their customer.
Banking, AML and what a US person adds to the file
The account-opening experience has a legal frame worth naming, because it explains the questions. The UAE’s anti-money-laundering framework was rebuilt in late 2025: Federal Decree-Law No. 10 of 2025 was issued on 30 September 2025 and repeals Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2018 at its Article 41, coming into force two weeks after publication in the Official Gazette under Article 42. Its Executive Regulations, Cabinet Resolution No. 134 of 2025, were issued on 29 October 2025 and repeal Cabinet Decision No. 10 of 2019 at Article 70.
Article 6(1) of those Executive Regulations requires institutions to “verify the identity of the Customer and the Beneficial Owner before or during the establishment of a Business Relationship or the opening of an account”. Article 7(2) sets due diligence triggers for one-off business at AED 55,000 for occasional transactions and AED 3,500 for occasional wire transfers — and names Financial Institutions only, where the repealed Article 6(2) of Cabinet Decision No. 10 of 2019 covered DNFBPs as well (uaelegislation.gov.ae, checked 5 August 2026).
| What the UAE bank must establish | What a US founder should bring |
|---|---|
| Identity of the customer | Passport, and Emirates ID once issued |
| Identity of the beneficial owner | Cap table resolved to individuals, including through any US holding entity |
| Purpose and intended nature of the relationship | A business plan naming customers, suppliers, volumes and countries |
| Source of funds and source of wealth | US bank statements, sale documents, salary history — the trail behind the capital |
| Tax status | FATCA self-certification, under the US–UAE agreement to implement FATCA |
The FATCA row is the only genuinely US-specific one, and it is a reporting formality rather than an obstacle. A US person’s UAE account is reportable; that is a fact to plan around with your US adviser, not something to be evasive about. Evasiveness at onboarding is what turns a routine application into a declined one. Our overview of opening a UAE business bank account walks through what banks look for.
The compliance you will carry
Once the company exists, the ongoing UAE obligations are manageable but not optional:
- Bookkeeping. Keep proper accounting records — corporate tax is computed from your accounts, and many free zones require audited financial statements.
- Corporate tax. Register and file within the UAE framework, even where the rate works out at 0%.
- VAT. Register and file returns if you cross the threshold; monitor it as you grow.
- Substance. Keep evidence that the company is managed here: board minutes, decisions taken in the UAE, staff and premises proportionate to what the business claims to do.
- Renewals. Trade licence, establishment card, residence visas, Emirates IDs and any lease all renew on their own cycles. Put them on one calendar in month one, because in the UAE an expired document tends to freeze the next process in the chain rather than simply lapse.
One American-specific point about bookkeeping is worth making explicitly. Your US adviser will need UAE numbers in a form they can work with, and the two systems do not agree on chart-of-accounts conventions, functional currency treatment or what counts as a related-party disclosure. Deciding early that the UAE books will be kept to a standard your US professional can read — and agreeing intercompany positions quarterly rather than annually — removes most of the friction that makes cross-border compliance expensive.
Getting a clean accounting and bookkeeping setup in place from day one is far cheaper than reconstructing records at year-end.
A realistic first-year sequence from the United States
Founders in the US usually ask how much can be done before they fly. The honest answer is: most of it, but not the parts that finish it.
| Stage | Can it be done from the US? | What forces a trip |
|---|---|---|
| Choose activity, structure and jurisdiction | Yes | — |
| Begin the document legalisation chain | Yes | Originals must physically travel |
| Reserve the trade name and obtain initial approval | Yes | — |
| Sign incorporation documents | Usually, through remote or notarised channels | Some authorities require an original signature |
| Issue the trade licence | Yes, at most free zones | Premises requirements vary on the mainland |
| Establishment card | Yes | — |
| Apply for the residence visa | Yes, to application stage | Medical fitness test and Emirates ID biometrics are in-country |
| Open the corporate bank account | Application and compliance review, yes | Many banks want an in-person meeting before activation |
| Corporate tax registration with the FTA | Yes | — |
| VAT registration once you cross AED 375,000 | Yes | — |
Read the table as a scheduling instrument. Three items — visa medical, Emirates ID biometrics and the bank meeting — are the only ones that need you physically in the UAE, and all three can sit inside a single trip if they are sequenced rather than discovered.
Two costs are worth flagging honestly because we will not quote figures we cannot source. Free zone package prices differ enormously by authority and by visa allocation, and several authorities quote only on enquiry — so get your specific configuration in writing rather than relying on a headline. And a mainland licence carries a premises requirement whose cost depends on the emirate, the district and the activity. Neither number is knowable from an article; both are knowable in a week.
Where this leaves you
Setting up a Dubai company from the USA is straightforward on the UAE side: you can own it fully, the UAE tax load is light, and the setup can largely be run remotely with a few in-person steps.
The discipline that matters is keeping the two sides apart, and the absence of a treaty is what makes that discipline non-negotiable. Treat the UAE benefits as UAE-side only. Build real substance and clean books. Handle FBAR, Form 8938, Form 5471 and your worldwide-income position with a US tax professional who does exactly that work.
Our business setup advisory team helps US founders choose the right UAE structure and jurisdiction, and our corporate tax and accounting teams keep the UAE-side compliance clean so it dovetails with your US reporting. Planning a UAE company from the US? Get a quote and we will scope it with you — and coordinate with your US adviser where it helps.
Disclaimer: This article is published by Velmont Crest, a DED-licensed UAE accounting firm and an authorised channel partner of Meydan Free Zone and RAKEZ, and a referral partner elsewhere. We are not a tax agent, an FTA-registered representative, or a licensed financial, legal or auditing firm, and we do not provide United States tax advice. The content above is general information about UAE business setup and UAE-side accounting and tax, and does not constitute tax, legal, accounting or financial advice in any jurisdiction. US persons must obtain advice on their US tax and reporting obligations from a qualified US tax professional. UAE requirements should be confirmed against the relevant UAE legislation, the licensing authority, and Federal Tax Authority guidance.
References
- IRS — United States income tax treaties A to Z (checked 5 August 2026 — the UAE is not listed)
- UAE Ministry of Finance — Double Taxation Agreements (137 DTAs; the United States is not among them)
- IRS — Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)
- IRS — Do I need to file Form 8938
- IRS — About Form 5471
- IRS — Tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026
- HCCH — Status table, Apostille Convention (the UAE is not a contracting party)
- UAE official legislation platform — Cabinet Resolution No. 85 of 2022 on Tax Residence
- The Official Portal of the UAE Government — Full foreign ownership of commercial companies
- Federal Tax Authority — Corporate Tax Legislation (Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022)
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a tax treaty between the United States and the UAE?
- No income tax treaty. The IRS list of United States income tax treaties A to Z shows Ukraine, the USSR and the United Kingdom under 'U' — the United Arab Emirates is not there. Checking from the other side gives the same answer: the UAE Ministry of Finance publishes its double taxation agreements, and the United States does not appear among the 137 entries. There is a separate intergovernmental agreement to implement FATCA, whose text the US Treasury publishes dated 17 June 2015, but that is a reporting agreement rather than a treaty allocating taxing rights. So the usual treaty machinery — residence tie-breakers, reduced withholding, a permanent-establishment article — is not available here, and relief has to come from domestic US rules instead.
- Can a US citizen own 100% of a company in Dubai?
- Yes. Since Federal Decree-Law No. 26 of 2020 amended the Commercial Companies Law, later consolidated in Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021, 100% foreign ownership of mainland companies is permitted for most business activities, removing the previous requirement for 51% Emirati ownership or a local agent. Free zone companies have always allowed full foreign ownership. A short list of activity areas still carries conditions, so the activity should be confirmed with the licensing authority before incorporation.
- Do I still have to file US returns if I live in Dubai?
- Assume yes until a US professional tells you otherwise. The United States taxes its citizens and green-card holders on worldwide income regardless of residence, and no UAE document changes that. Three information filings commonly apply on top of the return itself: FinCEN Form 114, the FBAR, once foreign financial accounts exceed $10,000 in aggregate at any time in the calendar year; Form 8938 for specified foreign financial assets above the thresholds that apply to taxpayers living abroad; and Form 5471 for certain US officers, directors and shareholders of foreign corporations, which the IRS ties to sections 6038 and 6046. A Dubai company plus a Dubai bank account will usually engage at least the first and third of those.
- What is the FBAR threshold and when is it due?
- The FBAR is FinCEN Form 114, and the IRS states that a US person must file it where the combined value of foreign financial accounts 'exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year reported'. It is an annual report 'due April 15 following the calendar year reported', and the IRS confirms an automatic extension to 15 October if the April deadline is missed. Note the shape of the test: it is aggregate, not per account, and it is a high-water mark rather than a year-end balance. A single corporate account funded with share capital clears $10,000 on day one, which is why the FBAR usually applies from the company's first year rather than from the year it becomes profitable.
- How much foreign income can a US founder in Dubai exclude?
- For tax year 2026 the IRS states that the foreign earned income exclusion is $132,900, up from $130,000 for tax year 2025. Two cautions before anyone plans around that figure. It applies to foreign earned income — broadly, compensation for services performed abroad — and not to dividends or distributions from a company you own, so how you pay yourself matters. And it depends on satisfying either the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test, which are US tests applied to your actual pattern of living. Whether you qualify, and whether the exclusion or the foreign tax credit produces the better result, is a US computation for a US tax professional.
- Does a UAE tax residency certificate reduce my US tax?
- No. Cabinet Resolution No. 85 of 2022 sets out when a person is a UAE tax resident, and meeting it gives you a documented UAE position that is genuinely useful — for third-country treaty claims, and as a fact your adviser can rely on. What it cannot do is displace US taxation of a US person, because the United States taxes on citizenship rather than residence, and because there is no US–UAE treaty containing a residence tie-breaker that could be invoked. Anyone presenting a UAE tax residency certificate to an American as a route out of US filing is describing something that does not exist.
- Will an apostille make my US documents usable in Dubai?
- Not on its own. The United States acceded to the Hague Apostille Convention with effect from 15 October 1981, so a US apostille is accepted almost everywhere. The United Arab Emirates is not a contracting party to that Convention at all — it does not appear in the HCCH status table. That means the apostille shortcut does not reach the UAE, and a US document generally needs the full legalisation chain: certification in the issuing state, then the UAE embassy or consulate in the United States, then attestation by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs once the document is here. Founders from Apostille countries are the ones most often caught out, precisely because the apostille works everywhere else they operate.
- Does a UAE free zone company really pay 0% corporate tax?
- Only if it qualifies, and it is tested every year. The free zone regime gives 0% on qualifying income to a Qualifying Free Zone Person, with the conditions in Ministerial Decision No. 229 of 2025, whose Article 6 repealed the earlier Ministerial Decision No. 265 of 2023. The provision to plan around is Article 5(2): if the conditions are not met, the status is lost for the relevant tax period and the four following tax periods. One bad year removes the benefit for five. Treat the free zone rate as an annually tested status with a long tail rather than a permanent feature of the entity — and note that none of it affects a US person's US position, because there is no treaty through which a UAE rate could travel.
- How long must a UAE company keep its records?
- It depends on the record class, and the periods differ. General accounting and tax records are kept for seven years under Article 3(1)(c) of Cabinet Decision No. 74 of 2023. Capital asset records are kept for ten years under Article 60(2) of Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017. Real estate records are kept for fifteen years under Article 71(2) of the VAT Executive Regulations as amended by Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2024. American founders arriving with US retention habits should build the policy by record class rather than applying one period to everything.
- Do I have to travel to the UAE to set up a company from the USA?
- Much of the process runs remotely, but three steps typically do not: the medical fitness test for a residence visa, Emirates ID biometrics, and — for many banks — an in-person meeting or in-country verification before the account is activated. How much can be done at a distance depends on the free zone or mainland authority, the activity and the bank. The scheduling lesson is consistent: founders who file everything first and then fly usually make one trip, and founders who fly in to get started usually make two.
Filed under: Business Setup, USA, Foreign Founders, Corporate Tax, UAE
Published · Updated
- 1. Define the activity and market What you sell and to whom drives the mainland-versus-free-zone decision more than tax does.
- 2. Choose structure and jurisdiction Mainland for direct UAE-market access; a free zone for full ownership and streamlined setup.
- 3. Start the legalisation chain US documents need consular legalisation for the UAE, not just an apostille. Begin before you need them.
- 4. Incorporate and license Reserve the name, secure the licence, and arrange the residence visa route if you need one.
- 5. Open a bank account Expect compliance checks plus a FATCA self-certification; some steps require your presence.
- 6. Set up accounting and tax Bookkeeping, corporate tax registration, and VAT registration once you cross the threshold.
