Trading company in Dubai, licence, zone and bank view

A trading company in Dubai buys and sells goods, and its licence has to name those goods. Where you set up depends on where your buyers are. Your bank will also want to see where the goods come from and where they end up. Importers, exporters, re-exporters and commodity traders each meet a slightly different version of these questions.

Trading models for import, re-export, commodity trading and local distribution

Most trading businesses fit one of four models. Each one moves goods in a different way, and that changes which rules matter.

• Import for buyers in the UAE. The goods enter the local market. You deal with import VAT and customs duty, and you need a way to reach buyers on the mainland, which is anywhere in the emirate outside a free zone.
• Re-export. The goods pass through a zone and then leave the country. Here the zone's customs and VAT status matters most.
• Commodity trading. Qualifying Commodities are metals, minerals, energy and agricultural goods with a quoted market price. Trading them can count as qualifying income for Corporate Tax, unless storage and distribution functions reach 51% of revenue (Ministerial Decision 229 of 2025).
• Local distribution. Selling to shops and businesses across the emirate needs either permission to trade on the mainland or a UAE distributor.

Zones that offer trading licences include Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), Dubai Airport Free Zone (DAFZ), Hamriyah Free Zone, Sharjah Airport International Free Zone (SAIF Zone) and Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (RAKEZ). Choose between them by your goods, your customers and the space you need. Look at the price last.

Zone or mainland for your goods

Decide by where you'll sell. Free zones have their own authorities, which license companies under their own rules. A free zone licence doesn't on its own let you trade in mainland Dubai. To sell across Dubai, you need a mainland licence, or a free zone company that also has permission for the mainland.

Executive Council Resolution 11 of 2025 gives a Dubai free zone company three ways to reach mainland buyers. The first is a mainland branch, and the resolution sets no fee for it. The second is a branch run out of the free zone office, usually called a dual licence, at AED 10,000 a year (Article 12). The third is a six-month permit for AED 5,000. For the permit you need a Dubai Unified Licence, the single business identifier Dubai issues. The permit started with non-regulated activities, and trading was among them (Dubai Media Office, 8 October 2025). Any mainland business has to be kept in separate financial records (Article 3(b)(2)). To trade in another emirate, you need that emirate's own licences (Article 3(c)).

Each zone also adds its own terms. The resolution requires approval from the free zone's licensing authority, plus any approvals your sector needs (Article 6). SAIF Zone's website (footer dated 2020, read in October 2026) says its licence is only valid inside the zone, and that goods sold into the UAE pay customs duties.

Zones publish prices in different forms, and you can't compare them as if they were the same thing. DMCC's schedule of charges puts a standard trading and service licence at about AED 20,000 a year, before visas and a desk. A general trading licence costs more and is priced separately. JAFZA says its licences start at AED 5,000. The final cost depends on how many activities you add, and you get the full figure from its online calculator. RAKEZ advertises packages from AED 6,000 without a visa. For DAFZ and Dubai South, you'll need to request a quotation from the zone (October 2026).

For the fees in detail, see the DMCC company setup guide and the RAKEZ company setup guide. The broader decision is covered in mainland versus free zone.

Customs, bonded storage and VAT Designated Zones

For VAT, being in a free zone isn't enough. Goods only count as outside the UAE when they're in a Designated Zone. That's a fenced area on a list kept by the Federal Tax Authority (FTA). It has security and customs checks on people and goods going in and out, and its own procedures for keeping, storing and processing goods (FTA VAT guide, July 2018).

The FTA's list under Cabinet Decision 59 of 2017 as amended includes Jebel Ali Free Zone (North-South) and Dubai Airport Free Zone, among others. DMCC isn't on it. Lists can change. Look at the current version, and have your zone operator confirm both that the zone is listed and that it meets the Article 51 conditions.

Corporate Tax sets its own test. A free zone company that meets the conditions for the 0% rate is known as a Qualifying Free Zone Person (QFZP). When a QFZP distributes goods, the income only counts as qualifying in set cases. The distribution has to happen in or from a Designated Zone. The goods have to enter the UAE through one. And the buyers have to be resellers, processors or a public benefit entity (Ministerial Decision 229 of 2025).

Breaking the Designated Zone conditions costs AED 50,000 or 50% of the tax on the goods, whichever is higher (Cabinet Decision 40 of 2017 as amended by Cabinet Decision 129 of 2025, Table 3, from 14 April 2026). The English versions of FTA and Ministry of Finance documents aren't official translations.

You must register for VAT once your taxable supplies and imports go over AED 375,000 in the past 12 months, or when you expect them to within the next 30 days. Below that, you can register voluntarily from AED 187,500. The application is due within 30 days of the date you became required to register (FTA, VAT registration service page, October 2026). Registering late costs AED 10,000. That figure comes from the Ministry of Finance's consolidated text of Cabinet Decision 40 of 2017, as amended by Cabinet Decision 129 of 2025 and in force from 14 April 2026 (Table 1, row 3).

Bonded storage means holding goods under customs control without paying duty until they leave. How it works, and the customs procedures around it, vary by zone and by the emirate where the goods come in. It matters because it settles who pays duty and which papers go with the goods. Put these questions to the zone and to the customs authority at your port of entry, and get the replies in writing. Is the space customs-controlled? Who owes duty when goods leave it? Which documents travel with the goods?

Regulated goods and approvals

Some product categories need their own permit, and you need it before the first sale. Under Executive Council Resolution 5 of 2024, Dubai can issue the licence first. In return you sign an undertaking that you'll get every permit before you start. Selling before a required permit arrives breaks that undertaking.

The licensing authority can tell you which permits each activity code on your licence needs, and from what date you're allowed to trade. Find out early which of your product categories need a permit. That decides the earliest day you can make a sale.

What the bank asks a trading business in Dubai

Opening the bank account can take longer than getting the licence. The bank wants to know where your goods come from, who buys them and how the money moves. Next to its general due diligence guidance, the Central Bank publishes separate guidance on trade-based money laundering, meaning dirty money hidden inside trade deals.

The general guidance is listed in the rulebook as in force from 7 November 2025 (an April 2026 version may have changed it, so check the current rulebook). Due diligence is the bank's check on who you are and where your money comes from. The guidance says banks shouldn't open or keep a relationship when they can't complete it. Its red flags include unclear ownership, nominee shareholders who hold shares on someone else's behalf, a newly formed company funded with a large sum, and money from sanctioned or high-risk countries. At its meeting reported on 25 December 2025, the Dubai Free Zones Council heard that the Economic Security Centre of Dubai had pointed to problems free zone companies face in opening bank accounts (Dubai Media Office).

Get your papers together before you apply. You'll want supplier and customer lists with their countries, the goods and where they're made, sample contracts or invoices, the shipping route and where your capital comes from. The activity wording on your licence should match the products named in those papers.

Setup advisers say banks ask more questions when a licence just says general trading. A licence that names the goods you sell tends to raise fewer. Changing the wording later means amending the licence. An adviser can compare your bank papers with your licence wording before you hand them in.

Sanctions and screening in ownership and customers

Check your shareholders, customers, suppliers, vessels and banks against sanctions lists before you apply. The Central Bank guidance names funds from a sanctioned or high-risk country as a red flag. If you find a link like that anywhere in your ownership, customers, goods or shipping, take it to a lawyer in the UAE. The bank and the lawyer can both tell you which sanctions lists apply to your goods and routes.

Costs and set-up order

There's no set price for a trading company. The licence, the space, the permits and the bank work all change with the goods you sell. Ask for each of the costs below, and note whether the figure comes from a fee schedule, a package or a quote.

• The licence fee, from the zone's schedule, calculator or quotation.
• Permission to sell on the Dubai mainland, if you need it. That's AED 10,000 a year for a dual licence or AED 5,000 for each six-month permit.
• Warehouse or office space. This usually sets your visa quota, the number of residence visas your company may apply for. At DAFZ the quota depends on the size of the office or lease, and the zone can give you its current table.
• For a leased mainland unit, Ejari, Dubai's official register of tenancy contracts. A company lease costs AED 220 to register through a trustee centre (Dubai Land Department, October 2026).
• Corporate Tax registration within three months of incorporation (late registration costs AED 10,000 under Cabinet Decision 75 of 2023 as amended). VAT registration once you reach the threshold (late registration AED 10,000 under Cabinet Decision 40 of 2017 as amended).
• Audited financial statements, if the company is a QFZP.

Work through the set-up in order of risk. Settle the goods and the permits first. Next comes the choice between zone and mainland, then the bank papers, then the licence and then the registrations. Visas come last. It's worth testing the QFZP and Designated Zone questions with a corporate tax consultant before you pick a zone. To see how trading compares with other kinds of business, read the guide to business ideas and licences. Groups that hold their shares through one company can look at the options in the holding company guide. If you sell goods online, the e-commerce licence guide covers that case.

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