Scope of Counsel
Services,
in full.
Each discipline can be engaged on its own. Most clients hold several, because a licence, a tax position and a residency file are the same decision viewed from three angles.
01
Company Formation
Mainland, free zone and offshore structures selected on commercial merit, then established with a licence that fits how you actually intend to trade.
Discuss this mandate
Licensing · Dubai
- Jurisdiction and activity analysis
- Trade licence issuance and renewal
- Shareholding and MOA drafting
- Establishment card and Immigration file
02
Corporate Tax & VAT
Federal registration, thoughtful structuring and filings prepared to a standard that withstands scrutiny — advisory rather than administration.
Discuss this mandate
Corporate tax · Dubai
- Corporate tax registration and filing
- VAT registration and returns
- Transfer pricing documentation
- Small business and free zone relief review
03
Visas & Immigration
Residency for founders, families and senior teams — including Golden Visa candidacy — coordinated end to end with the relevant authorities.
Discuss this mandate
Residency · Dubai
- Investor and partner residency
- Employment visas and quotas
- Golden Visa assessment
- Family sponsorship and dependants
04
PRO & Government Liaison
A standing relationship with every relevant department, so approvals, attestations and amendments proceed quietly in the background.
Discuss this mandate
Government liaison · Dubai
- Document clearance and attestation
- Licence amendments and renewals
- Emirates ID and medical coordination
- NOC, permits and ministry submissions
05
Accounting & Advisory
Management reporting, audit-ready books and CFO-level counsel for owners who make decisions from numbers, not estimates.
Discuss this mandate
Accounting · Dubai
- Bookkeeping and management accounts
- Audit preparation and liaison
- Payroll and WPS administration
- Financial modelling and forecasting
06
Corporate Banking & Secretarial
Introductions to the right banking desks, prepared files, and the corporate housekeeping that keeps an entity in good standing.
Discuss this mandate
Corporate banking · Dubai
- Account opening preparation
- Compliance and KYC files
- Registered agent and office
- Corporate secretarial records
Licensing, visas,tax and everythingafterwards.
No two companies arrive with the same objective, and no serious adviser should answer them with the same package.
A founder testing a single market needs a lean licence and a bank that will actually open the account. A family office consolidating four jurisdictions needs a holding structure that survives succession. A listed group opening a regional headquarters needs substance, transfer pricing and a hundred residency files handled without a single lapsed date. What they share is the requirement for judgement — knowing which authority governs the activity, in what order approvals must be sought, and what will still be defensible in five years.
Our work is arranged in four chapters — establishment, residency and government, tax and financial governance, and protection and growth. Read the chapter that concerns you, or open a single discipline and read only that. Nothing here is sold as a bundle.
Company Formation
Choosing a jurisdiction, a legal form and an ownership structure — the decisions a company will live with long after it is licensed.
Trade licence · Mainland, free zone & offshore
Principal service
Mainland company formation
A Department of Economy and Tourism licence to trade anywhere in the Emirates.
A mainland licence gives a company the broadest commercial reach available in the country: the right to contract with government entities, open branches across all seven emirates, take unrestricted premises and deal directly with the local market without a distributor. With foreign ownership now permitted across most activities, the entity type, activity list and share allocation are what determine what a company may invoice for years to come — decisions that repay careful attention at the outset. We handle the full application: trade name reservation and initial approval, drafting and notarisation of the memorandum, Ejari registration and premises approval, any ministry approvals the activity requires, and issue of the establishment card that supports your visa applications. Where a local service agent is required by law, we introduce vetted parties on terms that keep control with the owner. The outcome is a licence built around the business you intend to run.
- Initial approval & trade name
- Memorandum & notarisation
- Premises, Ejari & approvals
Residency & Government
Visas for owners, staff and families, and the government processes that keep a licence and its people in good standing.
Investor, employment & Golden Visa files
Residency is prepared as one continuous file — entry permit, medical, Emirates ID and visa stamping — so nothing waits on a document nobody asked for.
Principal service
Golden visa services
Ten-year UAE residency for investors, founders and qualifying specialists.
The golden visa changed the terms of living in the Emirates: ten years of residency, renewable, not tied to an employer, extending to a spouse, children and, under current rules, domestic staff, with no requirement to remain in the country to keep it active. Eligibility reaches well beyond property investment — substantial investors, entrepreneurs with a licensed and valued venture, senior executives on qualifying salaries, doctors, scientists, engineers, creatives and outstanding students each have a defined route, each with its own evidential standard. The work is in the evidence. We assess which category gives the strongest case, assemble valuations, attestations, salary certification, professional accreditation or investment proof to the standard the authority expects, and submit through the correct channel. Where a first application has already been refused, we review the file, identify what went wrong and rebuild the case before resubmitting.
- Category assessment
- Evidence assembly
- Family and dependant inclusion
Tax & Financial Governance
Corporate tax, VAT, accounts and audit — the recurring obligations that keep a UAE company compliant and its financial position defensible.
Corporate tax · VAT · Accounting & audit
Principal service
Corporate tax
Federal Tax Authority registration, position assessment and annual filing.
Federal corporate tax applies at nine per cent above the taxable threshold, with a qualifying free-zone regime that preserves a zero rate on genuinely qualifying income — and withdraws it entirely where the conditions are not met. The distance between those two outcomes is rarely visible from the outside, and it turns on activity classification, substance within the zone, related-party dealings and de minimis calculations that most businesses only encounter under review. We register the entity within the statutory deadline, determine and document the tax position in writing, restructure where a modest change protects qualifying status, and put in place the transfer pricing and record-keeping the Authority expects to see. Returns are prepared from properly maintained accounts rather than reconstructed at year end, and small-business or group relief is applied wherever it legitimately reduces the liability.
Protection & Growth
Protecting the company's name and standing, and advising on what comes after establishment — from restructuring to expansion or closure.
Business banking · Structuring · Advisory
Principal service
Business advisory
Retained, senior counsel for the decisions that don't come with a form.
Not every question a business faces has an application attached to it. Whether to open a second entity or a branch. Whether the free-zone position still holds after a change in clientele. How to price an internal transfer between group companies. When to bring in a partner, and on what terms. Whether an acquisition is cleaner than a new licence. We advise on these as a retained relationship rather than a one-off project: a senior adviser who knows the history of the file and is available before a decision is made, not after. Where a matter reaches beyond our remit — litigation, complex cross-border tax, regulated financial services — we say so plainly, and introduce specialists we have worked alongside for years. The value is in judgement applied early, while options are still open and inexpensive to change.
- Retained advisory relationship
- Structure & activity reviews
- Specialist introductions
Continue
Knowing what is required is one thing. Knowing the order it must happen in is the work.
What follows is the sequence itself — from first conversation to a licence framed on the wall, and everything that must be true in between.
Unsure which structure serves you?
That is the conversation we are best at. Bring the commercial picture; we will bring the jurisdictional one.
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