I don’t know Mia, but Fred has misled many people. He insisted that most business activities would be outside the scope of corporate tax. It seems he deleted his original post, but I managed to find a trace of it. Check below.
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Claim: “You are only paying 9% Corporate Tax if you are running one of the Excluded Activities.”
Truth: You first need to check whether you are conducting a qualifying activity. If you are not conducting a qualifying activity, you will be subject to corporate tax regardless of whether you engage in excluded activities. Qualifying activities are very limited, such as financing, shipping, IP businesses, etc. Additionally, your company must be a ‘Qualifying Free Zone Person’, must earn ‘Qualifying Income’ and not engange any Excluded Activities to be eligible for the 0% tax rate.
Claim: “No matter if you are doing E-Commerce or Marketing Services - it’s a Qualifying Activity.”
Truth: Completely incorrect. E-commerce or marketing activities are not qualifying activities under UAE corporate tax law and subject to %9 corporate tax directly.
Here is another incorrect statement from DLS: "It’s important to understand that the Excluded List of Activities in regards to Qualifying Income for a Qualifying Freezone Person is a conclusively complete list and the Activities not mentioned thereby automatically belong to the List of Qualifying Activities to remain 0% Corporate Tax as described"
This is completely wrong and misleading statement. The UAE corporate tax law defines “Excluded Activities” that do not qualify for the 0% corporate tax rate for Free Zone Persons. Just because an activity is not on the Excluded Activities list does not make it a “Qualifying Activity” eligible for the 0% tax rate...
https://dls-dubai.com/en/99-of-free...bai-remain-0-corporate-tax-why/#reading-start
I have own 2 freezone UAE companies in the software business since 2019, with a turnover in the 8-figure range. We worked with the professional tax lawyers in Dubai to analyze the 0% free zone incentives, as our business is an IP business, which is a qualifying activity. After spending about $25,000 on legal fees, we decided to pay the 9% tax due to the complexity, reporting requirements and risks associated with trying to achieve 0% tax in the UAE.