Do Mainland company in Dubai has same problem of opening bank account as free zone company ?

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troubled soul

troubled soul

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There are many discussion here and reddit.com , About problem opening business account for free zone.
Same problem when you register mainland company in Dubai??

Do mainland Dubai company face same problem as free zone company ?

Or Is it easy to open bank account for Mainland company ?

@Fred and @Gediminas ... What are your thought about this ?

Mainland Company is also tax free. Just registration cost is higher compare to cheap freezone.
As per new law, Foreigner can own 100% of mainland company without any sponsors.
So why go to freezone and face difficulty when you can open mainland company ??


What Am I missing ?

Please help
 
Mainland is liable for VAT and also a lot more accounting.

In my experience bank account is much the same. So long as you can prove what you are talking about bank account is the same.
 
Assuming the FZCO has the required substance that is asked for in 2022 - it's the same.

However the truth is if you don't have a service provider assisting you with this matter - people are surprised how each bank shows them the door when they turn up only with a lousy Flexi Desk Agreement you get for free from the Freezone.

So if you really want to do everything on your own better stick to a Mainland Company even if you are paying the double price initial and ongoing due to more bureaucracy with VAT etc.

But in my understanding the real deal is to get a FZCO at the best price and simply paying for the headache a Service Provider so that you have at the end of the day the most affordable outcome while no shortcomings in Banking.

I mean that's the idea if using a good service from a Service Provider - paying for his service that safes you much more compared to you doing everything yourself.

PS: KYC on Business and it's owners is exactly the same with Mainland and FZCO.

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Mainland companies are more intense to keep active as they require substance from the start and more administrative requirements later on.

In terms of banks, with mainland companies you can open everything online in a matter of seconds with E20 (digital branch of ENBD)

So, short story : probably the same amount of work and irritating steps, just not at the same time. Moreover, if I remember it well, mainland companies have requirements in terms of maximum percentage of shares hold by foreigners...
 
Opening a bank account for a mainland company is much easier than FZ. The reason is very simple. The Authority of mainland companies is the Government of Dubai(DED).

The government-backed bank of Dubai is Emirates NBD. They have even an online banking option called E20 for small businesses and they only onboard mainland companies. You can check here: e20. Digital Business Bank

VAT and accounting are the same or even better because audit is not required. You just need to keep your bookkeeping records.

They changed ownership rules for mainland companies. You can now incorporate 100% owned companies for many license types especially for e-business. That means no local shareholder.

Tip: If you don't want to deal with economic substance rules then you can incorporate a sole proprietorship mainland company. This type of company is exempted from ESR regulations. All FZ companies are subject to ESR regulations.

The short story is I don't see any advantage of having an FZ company compared to a mainland company.
 
rowena said:
rowena said:
Opening a bank account for a mainland company is much easier than FZ. The reason is very simple. The Authority of mainland companies is the Government of Dubai(DED).

The government-backed bank of Dubai is Emirates NBD. They have even an online banking option called E20 for small businesses and they only onboard mainland companies. You can check here: e20. Digital Business Bank

VAT and accounting are the same or even better because audit is not required. You just need to keep your bookkeeping records.

They changed ownership rules for mainland companies. You can now incorporate 100% owned companies for many license types especially for e-business. That means no local shareholder.

Tip: If you don't want to deal with economic substance rules then you can incorporate a sole proprietorship mainland company. This type of company is exempted from ESR regulations. All FZ companies are subject to ESR regulations.

The short story is I don't see any advantage of having an FZ company compared to a mainland company.
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So it is better to open mainland company compare to fz in 2022.
 
How much more expensive is it to open and maintain a mainland company vs the one in a free zone?
 
JamesDonkey said:
JamesDonkey said:
How much more expensive is it to open and maintain a mainland company vs the one in a free zone?
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While you are looking at 12.000+ EUR in setup and 8.000+ Euro with a Mainland Company - it's the half of it with a Freezone Company - assuming both - the Mainland and Freezone Company are located in Dubai.

For 98% of the clients we see daily - a Mainland Company isn't necessary and therefore an overkill.

We try to avoid Mainland as much as possible - It's a lot of more work and by far not that streamlined as with a Commercial Freezone Authority having European stuff and a straightforward process.

Go with a Mainland when it's really required and you want to run a Supermarket or Restaurant in Dubai.

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Fred said:
Fred said:
While you are looking at 12.000+ EUR in setup and 8.000+ Euro with a Mainland Company - it's the half of it with a Freezone Company - assuming both - the Mainland and Freezone Company are located in Dubai.
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My friend incorporated a mainland company in Dubai and the total was about AED 27.5K(6.5K EUR) including setup fee and 1-year fee. It is a professional license with 100% ownership and everything included like 1 visa, agency fee, local service agent, office lease, etc... There are even other cheap offers for the same setup between AED 20K-22K.
 
rowena said:
rowena said:
My friend incorporated a mainland company in Dubai and the total was about AED 27.5K(6.5K EUR) including setup fee and 1-year fee. It is a professional license with 100% ownership and everything included like 1 visa, agency fee, local service agent, office lease, etc... There are even other cheap offers for the same setup between AED 20K-22K.
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Yes we all know this dumping prices from certain agencies - without naming any nationalities.

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Can anyone clarify if FZCO as subject to ESR reporting? I keep reading different opinions.
 
carz said:
carz said:
Can anyone clarify if FZCO as subject to ESR reporting? I keep reading different opinions.
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ESR reporting depends on your business activity. All FZ companies in UAE are subject to ESR rules.

Sole proprietorship mainland companies are not subject to the ESR rules or ESR repoting and no audit is required.
 
Fred said:
Fred said:
For sure we do what works the best and that's why we never came together - back in the days you appreciated my honest reply - same here. Call it what ever you want.
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Look Fred, I don't like being reminded of what I did or said in the past (basically I was thanking you for not wasting my time as you could not offer me a solution anyway - your "...that's why we never came together" doesn't come as patronizing but as rather stupid, since you simply couldn't deliver, full stop), this is bad bad etiquette and a red flag for me. I won't engage in further small talk here or elsewhere with you, but as a piece of advice, you shouldn't be so jumpy and act like an arrogant spoiled brat whenever the tone of a post is not of your liking.

I repeat again, @rowena has given valuable info which you've proceeded to belittle and I'm just taking a side, which is my right to do. End of story.

NVO

Last edited: Jan 19, 2022
 
Nicholas Van Orton said:
Nicholas Van Orton said:
Look Fred, I don't like being reminded of what I did or said in the past (basically I was thanking you for not wasting my time as you could not offer me a solution anyway), this is bad bad etiquette and a red flag for me. I won't engage in further small talk here or elsewhere with you, but as a piece of advice, you shouldn't be so jumpy and act like a spoiled brat whenever the tone of a post is not of your liking.

I repeat again, @rowena has given valuable info which you've proceeded to belittle and I'm just taking a side, which is my right to do. End of story.

NVO
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If you do something daily you see exactly what's working and what's not.

Everyone here has formed a company once in a while or has a friend that formed a Company back in the days - back in the days there were people opening a Business Account in the UAE with just a Flexi Desk Agreement - latest since 2022 no longer working.

A red flag for me was already back in the days that you even couldn't meet up in person because you were not even in Dubai - so why fighting just another ghost that is once in a while in Dubai but knows everything?

You didn't contribute either and just give your unreflected personal opinion without knowing what's going on in practice.

I see who's the average joe and there schedule in Dubai - don't go with a Mainland Company if you actually not really intend to live fulltime in Dubai and want to make business in the local market. The process requires much more physical presence and as @rowena mentioned even when the pricing is close the same as a FZ (even without any Residence or Banking Service given) we try to avoid Mainland as much as possible.

Because of that your assumption is even wrong - I try to direct the people in a direction where I know the outcome is what they are looking for at a reasonable pricing - even when with both Mainland and Freezone money can be made - that's exactly what we are not doing - like the most Service Privder: "Hi, what do you want, this FZ or that FZ or better a Mainland without even knowing what most people looking for like choose one everything is the same bla bla"

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