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License needed to trade stocks/cryptos with own funds in Dubai/UAE?

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If you know 50+ traders living/working in UAE I'd be interested to discuss with︀ some of them. In particular, It would be quite valuable to know if they have︁ consulted a lawyer (not only a tax advisor) rather recently, and which decrees/rules the latter︂ relied their position on.

Please note that this thread is not about taxation, it is︃ about licensing and compliance. Though, if you/your friends have sources justifying an exemption (for full︄ time traders) I'm more than interested.
 
No offence,but I doubt my⁢ Associates would be interested in talking to an Internet stranger. It's also something I don't︀ have any desire to get involved in.

Not sure if you have ever spent any︁ time in UAE or any of the GCC countries?
The idea is,that you don't ask︂ any questions,you just get on with it.
I would not need to ask anyone if︃ they have consulted a tax advisor or lawyer.
The answer is no.
If you were︄ to consult a tax expert, they would simply not reply to you, ignore all your︅ calls and emails.
There would be not a single word of feedback.
This is common︆ in this part of the world - it is part of the charm I guess.︇

With regards to licencing.
You can do a few things.
Few guys work part time︈ and trade part time. So no form of license to trade.
Few guys do not︉ work,and just have a property, which gives you an investor visa.
And then a few︊ people wanted to open companies so that they could take equity against their company and︋ trading profits.
You can do a few things here.
Stay under the 100k usd Profit︌ and pay 0%, and anything else ontop you earn through personal and not company, or︍ go over the 100k and pay the corp tax. Depends what the books need to︎ say to secure funding for property or whatever they are up to.
 
Meet you on the service road,just‍ off Nov 18th.

We'll light a BBQ, sit on fabric chairs, eat mishkak and pretend⁠ we are not retards.
 
There's no offense, no worries.︀ So your answer is that none of your associates or contacts has ever consulted regarding︁ this matter, fair enough. And that lawyers do not provide any advice or, more formally,︂ legal opinions as services in the country, well noted.

Looks like the sense︋ of my question about the license requirement for full time traders (incl. cryptos) hasn't been︌ well understood, but that's fine, thank you for your time and reply. I won't further︍ comment on this.
 
@Thomas67 & @daniels27 - this conversation is turning a bit weird. I really have no‌ skin in the game, so i need not get too involved.

I would like to‍ re-clarify my overall point though, because it seems it was lost in the sillyness.

In the GCC where a law is not 100% clearly understood, it will be interpretted differently⁠ by everyone, until there is a practical implementation of the law/ruling.

Practically, what this means⁤ on the ground - you do whatever is most logical and in line with what⁣ is already known.

So - whats happening today.

Personal money, personal trading, no cgt, no⁢ income tax, no licence.
Company money, company tax, company license.

If you ask 10 different︀ tax lawyers in UAE about this 1million AED Turnover & 9% Corp Tax rule, you︁ will get 8 no replys, and 2 polar opposite answers. (Go ahead and give it︂ a shot).

What i have shared is purely practical knowledge from feet on the ground.︃
 
@Thomas67 I have no heat in this either. But I can tell you something. @gaz0001 is right. We discussed similar things many times. You don't need to worry. But don't‌ look for a definite confirmation as you will not get that. And btw this is‍ not only like this in the UAE, there are also things in the US which⁠ with like this. As a general rule, as long as there is no court case⁤ not a law requiring you to do anything if let anything, you probably are safe⁣ to go. If there was only one case, the world would be taking about.
 
Actually I believe the answer to the main question of this thread is more simple‌ than expected.

It is provided by combining the commercial transaction law and the decrees related‍ to the corporate tax:
- Investing, holding, swing trading over several days/weeks or more (what⁠ most people do in Dubai/UAE) => personal investment => no license, no CIT
- HFT,⁤ day trading, scalping, using sophisticated tools, (likely) trading derivatives, (likely) trading Forex (can't be seen⁣ as an investment) => a commercial business => license required (as for any business), and⁢ CIT applies (with possible exemptions - threshold on income/sales proceeds, small business tax relief)
 
It makes sense to take a license to defend ourselves. But︁ the problem is I am not sure which license is the most suitable and appropriate︂ that covers my trading activity. Most of the freezones did not have an activity that︃ covers stocks, equity derivatives on international regulated exchanges.
I was concerned about potential misuse of︄ license in case it was discovered by authorities at a later point of time.

If only there was a specific license issued by any of the freezones for Freezone LLC︅ for
"1. Trading in securities, all kinds of derivatives (equity, currency, commodities, OTC) on local︆ and international regulated exchanges. "
it would have been far more clearer and straightforward.
 
I understand your concerns but it goes beyond the scope of this thread - feel︁ of course free to create one if useful for you. But to answer your question,︂ I'm pretty sure DIFC and DMCC cover these activities, also depending on the instrument, just︃ ask them; Interactive Brokers (broker for local and international regulated exchanges) has set up its︄ branch at DIFC.
 
Thanks again for︀ your view. In your opinion, what do most traders/investors residing in UAE do, considering the︁ limited number of listed tokens, their lower liquidity, the possible restrictions for margin/futures trading (quite︂ annoying as well for traders) and, in addition to AML/CFT laws, the possible application of︃ CIT for traders?
 
The topic can actually be extended to the more practical questions, it's a good idea.︁

Has someone a view on the cheapest/easiest option for a licensed trading activity (e.g. crypto,︂ stocks), in mainland or freezone, freelance or company, being Dubai or Abu Dhabi?
AFAIK, we︃ have the following in terms of regulators:
- mainland Dubai: SCA+VARA
- freezone Dubai: the︄ freezone regulator (DFSA for DIFC, CMA for DMCC (possibly), DWTC authority)+VARA
- mainland Abu Dhabi:︅ SCA+?
- freezone Abu Dhabi: the freezone regulator (FSRA for ADGM)
 
why would this be needed if you just use your personal funds in your︀ personal accounts esp if it has characteristics as a hobby?
Maybe look into DIFC which︁ is outside Vara or RAKDAO in Rak?
Vara seems more for "real" businesses which trading︂ is not (no employees, no goods, no customers, nor suppliers).
 
Because active/frequent trading can be seen as a commercial business (commercial transaction law - speculation, and⁤ virtual assets works). Ofc very occasional trading, ideally close to personal investment wouldn't be an⁣ issue indeed.

DIFC is clearly feasible (FZ's AML/CTF constraints on the activity to be clarified),⁢ though perhaps not the cheapest option I assume among those listed. Curious to see if︀ options exist in mainland (Dubai/Abu Dhabi) or if doesn't make sense when using foreign brokers/exchanges︁ (and would actually require locally regulated ones).

Agreed on VARA: 'personal investment' is out of︂ scope, only AML law compliance (very restrictive) is required in this case. Service providers are︃ obviously regulated. Though, there's a grey area in between: 'personal trading', personal shows there is︄ no service, but active trading can be seen as a commercial business depending on the︅ trading style.
 
did you check RAKDAO? It doesnt get︃ any coverage here, but it seems for real. I also met up with a person︄ who stated its legit, but have not tried myself nor do I know personally anyone︅ who switched to this, its a pretty new initiative: https://www.rakdao.com
Having a Rak thingy is︆ also no big deal as you can still be wherever in the emirates with the︇ visa besides the one or the other trip there (not far).

It could / should︈ address a lot of these issues.

They have these activites which might are good enough,︉ but the list is more than that:
* c15 holding company
* lots of web3︊ stuff
* c24 prop trading
* c03 dlt stuff
 
Looks like a quite interesting option indeed, thanks for︁ suggesting. I don't know if there are many other options out there allowing prop trading︂ or blockchain related activities with such a flexibility of packages.

Will reach them out to︃ assess business requirements and dig into the regulation. Curious to see the level of tolerance︄ vs foreign brokers/exchanges in the context of standard prop trading activities.
 
it seems pretty chill (and⁣ i have been assured it is chill). You can even use bitcoin as unit of⁢ account apparently. The difficulty is getting the bank account, but they told me theres some︀ partnership etc, so it would be possible.

But as you know, you can only tell︁ after you have done it yourself how it really is.
I wanted to pull the︂ trigger on this a while ago, but life came in the way.
 
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