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Turnkey company formation in the UAE

We choose the jurisdiction around how you actually work, arrange the licence and constitutional documents, and support visas and account opening. And unlike formation agents, we do not disappear on the day the licence is issued: that is exactly when the tax deadlines start — the ones that carry penalties.

Avangard Group L.L.C-FZ · Meydan Free Zone licence No. 2651982.01 · directly and through partners · Author: Iaroslav Seliutin, managing partner in the UAE

Jurisdictions: free zones and mainland
Your presence: needed only for the visa
Ownership: 100% foreign
After the licence: tax registration in 3 months

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Where the choice really starts

The question is not "where is it cheaper" but who your customers are and where you physically work. A mistake here costs more than the incorporation itself: changing jurisdiction means a new licence, new visas, a new bank account and a pause in trading.

	Free zone	Mainland
Customers inside the UAE	limited: usually a distributor or a separate permit	unrestricted
Customers abroad	unrestricted	unrestricted
Office	a flexi-desk is enough, often bundled	real premises, lease registered in Ejari
Government tenders	generally unavailable	available
Corporate tax	0% on qualifying income with QFZP status, otherwise 9%	0% up to AED 375,000 of profit, then 9%
Audit	mandatory for a QFZP at any revenue	above AED 50M of revenue

What we do

Review the model. Who pays you, where the money comes from, how many visas you need, whether you plan to serve the local market. We come back with suitable jurisdictions and a budget.
Select the activities. The activities on the licence decide not only what you may legally do but how the bank reads your file. Extra or ill-fitting activities raise the fee and raise questions at compliance.
Reserve the name in line with the registrar's rules.
Prepare and file the pack, obtain the trade licence, certificate of formation, memorandum and articles, and share register.
Support the visas: establishment card, then the residence visa — medical test, biometrics, Emirates ID.
Help with the bank. We bring documents into one consistent form, prepare the business model description and compliance pack, and pick banks that fit your structure rather than "whoever will take you".
Cover what starts afterwards. Tax registration, setting up the books, payroll if you have staff.

Why we quote ranges. The cost is made up of the specific free zone's fees, the number of visas and the set of activities, and all three change with packages and promotions. Market reference points for 2026: roughly AED 18,000 – 25,000 for the first year for a services company with one visa and a flexi-desk, and AED 35,000 – 50,000 with trading activities, several visas or an office. We quote the exact figure after the review — with our fee stated separately from the registrar's charges.

What begins the day the licence is issued

Formation agents usually stop here. Yet this is where the clock starts:

Obligation	Deadline	Cost of missing it
Corporate tax registration	3 months from incorporation	AED 10,000
VAT registration	30 days after crossing AED 375,000	AED 10,000 plus the tax for the period
Bookkeeping and record retention	from day one	from AED 10,000, costs disallowed
Wages through WPS	by the 1st of the following month	new work permits blocked
Licence renewal and audit	annually	the licence is not renewed

Detailed guides: free zone versus mainland, corporate accounts and why banks say no, corporate tax, audit at licence renewal.

Why through us rather than a formation agent

We choose the jurisdiction around accounting and tax, not around a commission on a package. A cheap licence stops being cheap when it turns out your customers are companies inside the UAE.
We have been through it ourselves. Avangard Group L.L.C-FZ is registered in Meydan Free Zone under licence No. 2651982.01 — with the same steps, banking included.
You are not left alone afterwards. We keep the books and file the taxes ourselves, from AED 2,000 per month, with no handover to another provider.
We work in your language — English, Russian, Arabic.

We will pick the jurisdiction for your model

Tell us who your customers are, whether you need visas and whether you plan to serve the UAE market. We will propose the options, quote a first-year budget and list the obligations that appear as soon as the licence is issued. The review is free.

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Frequently asked questions

For a free zone licence, usually not — the documents are electronic. Physical presence is required for the residence visa stage (medical test, biometrics, Emirates ID) and often to open an account at a traditional bank. Typically that means a few days.

No. Since 2021 a foreign national can own 100% of a company in every free zone and, for most activities, on the mainland. The local partner requirement remains only in strategic sectors — oil and gas, defence, telecoms.

It is made up of the chosen free zone's or mainland authority's fees, the number of visas and the set of activities. Reference points for 2026: roughly AED 18,000 – 25,000 for the first year for a services company with one visa and a flexi-desk, AED 35,000 – 50,000 with trading activities, several visas or an office. Our fee is quoted separately from the registrar's charges after we review your situation.

No, and nobody can: the decision belongs to the bank's compliance team. We control what can be controlled — consistent documents, a clear description of the business model, banks matched to your structure and applications submitted in parallel. The reasons behind rejections are covered in our corporate account guide.

Register for corporate tax within three months of incorporation, otherwise the penalty is AED 10,000. Start keeping books and source documents from day one. Watch turnover: at AED 375,000 over 12 months VAT registration becomes mandatory. If you have staff, put employment contracts and payroll in place.

In practice this is usually a new incorporation rather than a transfer: new licence, new visas, new account and a pause in trading. That is why we choose the jurisdiction up front around the real model rather than by package price — correcting this mistake costs more than the formation itself.

The figures are market reference points as of 17 August 2026 and are not a public offer: free zone and government fees change, and the exact quote is prepared after reviewing your situation. Part of the formation and account opening work is delivered together with partners. Tax deadlines and penalties follow current Federal Tax Authority rules and can be verified at tax.gov.ae.