DET
Mainland
Invoice Dubai and the other emirates. Real office with Ejari. Ordinary corporate tax. The product if the customer is here.
- 100% foreign for most activities
- 9% CT above AED 375,000 profit
- Visa quota follows office size
Mainland vs free zone · 2026
The question is who you invoice — not which logo looks richer
Both can be 100% foreign-owned for most activities. Mainland is the UAE high street. A free zone is a packaged licence. 0% tax is a FTA test, not a slogan. Three answers, then the table.
Authority package
Free zone
Flexi desk to warehouse. International and zone-to-zone work. 0% only if you qualify. Pick the zone for the work — DMCC is not IFZA.
- 100% foreign, always
- 0% CT only on qualifying income
- Visa quota follows the package
Three questions
Not a filing. A filter so you stop paying for the wrong letterhead.
Answer all three. The table below stays either way.
Side by side
| Mainland | Free zone | |
|---|---|---|
| Who you can sell to | UAE market, other emirates, government tenders (when eligible). | Inside the zone, internationally, or via a local distributor / mainland partner. |
| Ownership | 100% foreign for most activities. A short list of strategic sectors still needs a local partner. | 100% foreign. Always was. |
| Office | Physical office + Ejari is the default. Virtual addresses get refused. | Flexi desk to warehouse, depending on the zone and activity. |
| Corporate tax | 0% up to AED 375,000 profit, then 9% on the rest (standard FTA rules). | 0% on qualifying income if you are a Qualifying Free Zone Person. Otherwise the same 9%. |
| VAT | 5% once you cross the FTA threshold. Same federal law. | Same 5%. A free-zone licence does not skip VAT. |
| Visa quota | Tied to office size and the establishment card. | Tied to the package you buy. Extra visas are extra dirhams. |
| Typical first-year feel | Often AED 15–40k+ once office rent is honest, before fit-out. | Packages from roughly AED 12–20k (flexi SME zones) to AED 50k+ (DMCC, DIFC). |
| Banking | Generally smoother for local trading accounts. | Possible, slower if the activity is ‘general trading’ with no substance. |
| Customs / import | Import for the UAE market under your own code. Retail and distribution are native. | Goods in the zone are in a customs bubble until they enter the mainland — then duty and a local party apply. |
| Setup speed | Name, office, Ejari, DET. Days to a few weeks if the activity is clean. | Packaged. Some SME zones quote days. DIFC and industrial units take longer. |
| Moving later | You can add a free-zone sister later. You cannot skip Ejari and still be mainland. | Selling into the UAE later means a distributor, a dual licence, or a mainland company. |
If the work looks like this
Free zone
Consultancy that invoices GCC clients
No UAE shopfront. A flexi desk in IFZA, Meydan or DMCC is the usual first licence. Mainland is extra office you will not sit in.
Mainland
Selling into UAE retailers or the high street
You need to invoice inside the country. A free-zone company doing this without a distributor is how customs and banks get unhappy.
Free zone
Re-export through the port or airport
JAFZA, DAFZA or Dubai South. The zone is a customs bubble. Mainland is the wrong door for a yard next to the quay.
Mainland — or a specialist zone
Clinic, school, travel desk, café
DET plus the sector regulator (DHA, KHDA, DTCM). DHCC for some clinics. A cheap SME zone will not licence a café on a Dubai street.
DIFC
Fund, broker, or anything DFSA-shaped
Not ‘a free zone’. DIFC plus DFSA. A flexi desk in Silicon Oasis is not a substitute.
Mainland first
Mix: some UAE invoices, some export
Mainland can export. A free zone cannot quietly become a Dubai retailer. Dual licences exist later if the volumes justify them.
Talk to a human
Ask a Dubai specialist
Jobs, visas, where to live, a company, or a property file. A person replies. The mailbox is not published here, and your note is not listed or sold.
We will never ask you to transfer money, share OTP codes, or send passport scans to “process a visa” or a licence. Confirm filings on DET, the free-zone authority, DLD and FTA.