I don't think it is going to happen. You don't have to rent a real office or hire an employee to run the business even if you really live in UAE.
FZs issues freelance(sole-trader) licenses, which means you can't hire an employee. Another example is SHAMS FZ in Sharjah. They only have flexi desk options because they don't have real office spaces, so you can't have real office space.
I expect less strict rules and more importance of individual tax certificates. I also expect all sole businesses like freelance permits or mainland sole proprietorship companies will be exempted from corporate tax because they're not corporate. They should be taxed under income tax which remans 0%.
Update: It looks like mainland sole proprietorship and even Freezone-based freelance licenses are subject to CT. Still waiting for detailed information but this makes freelance licenses useless.
yeaaaaaaah, no, just because the FZs doesn't have strict substance requirement, it will mean that the banks will accept that, remember that it was already very hard to open a bank account for a rak or a Sharjah company before, now it's just impossible. banks only accept Dubai companies and that's even is not sure thing, it's based on a case by case basis.
thank god that I have build my relationships in Dubai before the shitstorm that's about to come. (Also attending Events that's hold by Emirati business men/women and "donating" for their "charities" here and there to get your name out and networking helps too )
But I gotta say it, I just hate these dumb fucks that's ruining the offshore business for all of us, Greedy mfs keep coming to dubai, no substance, hotel bills, fake bs, no business plan, shitty 50$ website, no social media or any social proof at all. Absolutely nothing. and they just keep transferring 500k-700k every month and sometimes more without anything to back these numbers on, and you wander why we hear news like this!
like come on, if you are gonna do something with this money, at least be a little bit smart about it, hire people, have substance and don't be a cheap f**k crying about the 0.20 fees that the bank will get from you, like Jesus Christ man.
I have been in this region for so long, I know what's about to come, they will 100% go after the FZ companies, but not like what you imagine, they will look hard for the substance requirement, then they will require you to stay longer or get your visa revoked, and so on and so forth. believe it or not, the UAE doesn't need your money or "experience", they moved past this phase a long time ago. They just want to show the business world how business friendly they are with their "mature laws" and regulations. they want to be the HQs capital of the world.
And as much as I hate regulations and governments interfering with businesses, this is far from "over" regulation that you see in other countries, and this will be a good thing in the long run, because news like this deter the dumb fucks from coming to Dubai and instead, going after other jurisdictions like
Seychelles, Belize or whatever crappy jurisdiction they chose to incorporate in.
For the rest of us, as long as you have proper substance, keeping records (Even if you don't need to), building relationships with banks, networking with other business people based in the UAE and the MENA region in general, you are good to go.
But for the other dumb fucks, keep fucking yourself and I hope I see the Interpol ram your house at 3 am, dragging your to the north pole and keep you there right where you belong - "off-shore" and far away enough from the rest of us
