Banking options for freezone establishments in UAE

[Thomas67]

Hi all,

I currently need to open a bank account for my consultancy activity (freelance) in UAE.

Does someone know if a freezone establishment absolutely requires a local bank account (UAE) or if an offshore bank account (Europe) can be used compliance wise?

Thanks for your views

 

[csp dubai]

there is no requirement to use uae bank accout, but be carefull soon they will be very aggresivly start collect the 9% in theory they collect info with crs . just be aware that any tax violations will be converted in jail time 100 aed one day in jail
100 aed is 5 usd more less, and there is no mercy in dubai if you own money or you go jail or you pay.
Be very carefull the justice sytem is very swift only in one direction , first they arrest you than we see how much you pay

 

[Thomas67]

there is no requirement to use uae bank accout, but be carefull soon they will be very aggresivly start collect the 9% in theory they collect info with crs . just be aware that any tax violations will be converted in jail time 100 aed one day in jail
100 aed is 5 usd more less, and there is no mercy in dubai if you own money or you go jail or you pay.
Be very carefull the justice sytem is very swift only in one direction , first they arrest you than we see how much you pay

Thanks for your view. Sure, I'm well aware of the new corporate tax. I intend to be fully compliant for it too.

I was just wondering if there was a source regarding that bank account flexibility.

Considering it might be more difficult* to transfer personal funds from a UAE bank account to Europe afterwards if wished.

*possibly and things could evolve positively with the corp. tax, the related compliance requirements, and if UAE is no longer seen as a tax heaven where money laundering can be important.

 

[FreedomSearcher]

there is no requirement to use uae bank accout, but be carefull soon they will be very aggresivly start collect the 9% in theory they collect info with crs . just be aware that any tax violations will be converted in jail time 100 aed one day in jail
100 aed is 5 usd more less, and there is no mercy in dubai if you own money or you go jail or you pay.
Be very carefull the justice sytem is very swift only in one direction , first they arrest you than we see how much you pay

100 AED is not even close to 5 USD.

And what is the source of the other information?

 

[ActionMan]

there is no requirement to use uae bank accout, but be carefull soon they will be very aggresivly start collect the 9% in theory they collect info with crs . just be aware that any tax violations will be converted in jail time 100 aed one day in jail
100 aed is 5 usd more less, and there is no mercy in dubai if you own money or you go jail or you pay.
Be very carefull the justice sytem is very swift only in one direction , first they arrest you than we see how much you pay

what is your source on that?

Hi all,

I currently need to open a bank account for my consultancy activity (freelance) in UAE.

Does someone know if a freezone establishment absolutely requires a local bank account (UAE) or if an offshore bank account (Europe) can be used compliance wise?

Thanks for your views

mashreq neo business or wio.

Mashreq requires your company documents + a tenancy contract, so make sure to have that covered.

Wio is wonderful too, they require all your company documents + EID and it's at 99 AED / month. their personal account is also good and they allow you to create virtual cards. Good for crypto if you know what you are doing.

 

[Thomas67]

what is your source on that?

mashreq neo business or wio.

Mashreq requires your company documents + a tenancy contract, so make sure to have that covered.

Wio is wonderful too, they require all your company documents + EID and it's at 99 AED / month. their personal account is also good and they allow you to create virtual cards. Good for crypto if you know what you are doing.

Thanks @ActionMan. For a local business bank account I was also thinking of ADIB (100 AED a month too); your suggestions are interesting to be examined.

In this thread my main question is also to know if, through a decree/legal guideline/regulation (federal or a freezone common practice), foreign bank accounts could be forbidden. Also considering audit that might be required as of this year due to the corporate tax.

 

[ActionMan]

Thanks @ActionMan. For a local business bank account I was also thinking of ADIB (100 AED a month too); your suggestions are interesting to be examined.

In this thread my main question is also to know if, through a decree/legal guideline/regulation (federal or a freezone common practice), foreign bank accounts could be forbidden. Also considering audit that might be required as of this year due to the corporate tax.

ADIB takes some time, and the list of requirements are heavy at first, unless you know a PRO who can help you circumvent that. something like what @Fred used to have with ENBD.

Foreign banks are not forbidden. if you have a good accountant, he can take care of that for you.

 

[uranium]

ADIB takes some time, and the list of requirements are heavy at first, unless you know a PRO who can help you circumvent that. something like what @Fred used to have with ENBD.

Foreign banks are not forbidden. if you have a good accountant, he can take care of that for you.

I agree Foreign banks are not forbidden. But you must send foreign bank statement to your accountant to report your income.
You can use emi + uae company

 

[Thomas67]

I agree Foreign banks are not forbidden. But you must send foreign bank statement to your accountant to report your income.
You can use emi + uae company

Thanks for confirming. I agree with it; CRS is another interesting topic to discuss in this forum, e.g. concerning UAE as of this year.

 

[FreedomSearcher]

You can use emi + uae company

What EMI's are good to be used with UAE Freezone companies?

 

[uranium]

What EMI's are good to be used with UAE Freezone companies?

3S Money Club Limited (DIFC Branch) is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) with DFSA reference number F007004, authorising it under Article 48 of the Regulatory Law 2004 to carry on the Financial Services comprised in Issuing Payment Instruments and Providing or Operating a Payment Account. 3S Money Club Limited (DIFC Branch) is registered in Dubai International Financial Centre, Licence Number CL5587, with its registered office address at Central Park Towers, office 20-54, DIFC, Dubai, UAE.

 

[Thomas67]

What EMI's are good to be used with UAE Freezone companies?

Payset might be another option to analyze.

 

[csp dubai]

hungary has 9% tax and is much less complicate , take residence in dubai use hungarian company for business,
raiffasen will happy open you account in 1 day

 

[Thomas67]

hungary has 9% tax and is much less complicate , take residence in dubai use hungarian company for business,
raiffasen will happy open you account in 1 day

Lol.

 

[kilor]

Lol.

Why LoL can you elaborate, I'm curious for me it sounds like a good option or plan that @csp dubai suggest ?

 

[Thomas67]

Why LoL can you elaborate, I'm curious for me it sounds like a good option or plan that @csp dubai suggest ?

Because the topic of the thread is not about setting up an offshore company, quite simple.

Thanks to csp dubai for the suggestion anyway

 

[Lord Palmerstone]

Hi all,

I currently need to open a bank account for my consultancy activity (freelance) in UAE.

Does someone know if a freezone establishment absolutely requires a local bank account (UAE) or if an offshore bank account (Europe) can be used compliance wise?

Thanks for your views

Having just set up a FZ company in UAE (even though I am in my 30th year as a resident here), I did it for a European partner and he even got himself an investor's residency.
Anyway, I tried several Banks and they all start making us jump through hoops, (they will be as stupid as UK/EU Banks soon here), but I succeeded by taking him to my own bank (FAB) that I have been with for 29 years, and they agreed to offer facilities initially for the individual and then after depositing quite a large amount of funds to the FZ company, they promised to facilitate that too.
However in a parallel action I asked the FZ to open an account (that cost AED3000) and they did so in 3 days with Wio (actually FAB Group) digibank and gave us accounts in USD/EUR/GBP/AED immediately, so all in all a very successful move to try in two directions to get good results

 

[Thomas67]

Having just set up a FZ company in UAE (even though I am in my 30th year as a resident here), I did it for a European partner and he even got himself an investor's residency.
Anyway, I tried several Banks and they all start making us jump through hoops, (they will be as stupid as UK/EU Banks soon here), but I succeeded by taking him to my own bank (FAB) that I have been with for 29 years, and they agreed to offer facilities initially for the individual and then after depositing quite a large amount of funds to the FZ company, they promised to facilitate that too.
However in a parallel action I asked the FZ to open an account (that cost AED3000) and they did so in 3 days with Wio (actually FAB Group) digibank and gave us accounts in USD/EUR/GBP/AED immediately, so all in all a very successful move to try in two directions to get good results

Thanks a lot for the suggestion/extensive feedback.

 

[Zikki]

CURRENXIE : Easiest opening for me, they offer multiple local bank accounts in different currencies. It saved after so long waiting for uae banks
Paysera : they had to change their validation process because it was wrong for Freezones companies but they fixed it (at least for mine). However, they regularly invalidate your KYC questionnaires, ask for the same documents and may freeze your accounts during it but nothing long and major until now. They also have issue to wire money directly to UAE as they don't support AED and are not connected in all currencies to it.
WIO : is painless to open a bank account, it was validated and activates in a few hours/days. They offer multi currencies but all card payments are deducted from the aed account even if it's in USD or EUR abd you have some (personal accounts in wio deducts from the corresponding currencies without fees), currency rates are good but not the best and your swift account means additional fees for international payments in Europe for example. The company account also supports wage payments on WPS and STRIPE payment for you invoices.

Depending where you customers are paying from it can be interesting to get a company having local accounts to your customers and then transfer money to a local account like WIO. It depends also how long you wanna wait for your payments to be on an account you own.

 

[Thomas67]

CURRENXIE : Easiest opening for me, they offer multiple local bank accounts in different currencies. It saved after so long waiting for uae banks
Paysera : they had to change their validation process because it was wrong for Freezones companies but they fixed it (at least for mine). However, they regularly invalidate your KYC questionnaires, ask for the same documents and may freeze your accounts during it but nothing long and major until now. They also have issue to wire money directly to UAE as they don't support AED and are not connected in all currencies to it.
WIO : is painless to open a bank account, it was validated and activates in a few hours/days. They offer multi currencies but all card payments are deducted from the aed account even if it's in USD or EUR abd you have some (personal accounts in wio deducts from the corresponding currencies without fees), currency rates are good but not the best and your swift account means additional fees for international payments in Europe for example. The company account also supports wage payments on WPS and STRIPE payment for you invoices.

Depending where you customers are paying from it can be interesting to get a company having local accounts to your customers and then transfer money to a local account like WIO. It depends also how long you wanna wait for your payments to be on an account you own.

Excellent review, many thanks.

Currenxie looks great, would have loved to try it. The only missing piece is that their multi-currency accounts do not support AED (have asked their support if they intended too in the future), which is quite relevant.

Wio looks very good too, though more expensive in their pricing structure apparently. To be checked but an automatic deduction of card payments from the AED account could also be seen as a good thing for accounting/tax purposes (their guaranteed USD/AED currency rate at 3.673 is quite good).