Pakistan tax guides, calculators and advisory resources
Practical, source-linked guides on Pakistan income tax, salary and sales tax calculators, FBR filing, withholding rate cards, business compliance and cross-border work — written against the enacted Finance Act 2026.
Quick answer: Setup quotes usually cover the licence and a visa. The recurring cost that follows — corporate tax registration and filing, VAT compliance where it applies, bookkeeping, audit where required and insurance — is often larger over three years than the formation fee.
Setup quotes compare badly because they measure different things. One includes the visa and the establishment card, another does not. Almost none include the second year — which is where a cheap zone stops being cheap.
This guide breaks the cost into the four buckets that actually appear on your bank statement, gives the sequence in order with realistic timings, and models three years rather than the first invoice.
The one-line version. Budget in four buckets — licence, establishment and visas, premises, and recurring compliance. The first year is the smallest of the three you should be planning for, because year two carries renewal, corporate tax filing and, for a free zone claiming 0 per cent, a mandatory audit.
The sequence, in order
UAE COMPANY SETUP — STEP BY STEP
STEP 1 DECIDE MAINLAND OR FREE ZONE [1 day of thought]
Driven by who your customers are, not by cost
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STEP 2 CHOOSE ACTIVITY AND LEGAL FORM [1-3 days]
The activity on the licence drives everything after
it: permitted customers, visa quota, whether a
0% corporate tax position is even available
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STEP 3 RESERVE THE TRADE NAME [1-3 days]
Rejected for: another entity's name, religious or
governmental terms, abbreviations of personal names
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STEP 4 INITIAL APPROVAL [2-5 days]
Regulator confirms it has no objection to the
activity and the shareholders
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STEP 5 PREMISES [3-10 days]
Mainland: tenancy + Ejari
Free zone: flexi-desk / office in the package
-> Visa quota is usually tied to space taken
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STEP 6 DOCUMENTS AND LICENCE ISSUE [3-10 days]
MoA / AoA, shareholder passports, attestations
where required -> LICENCE ISSUED
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STEP 7 ESTABLISHMENT CARD + VISA QUOTA [3-7 days]
The step most quotes omit
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STEP 8 VISAS, PER PERSON [7-15 days each]
Entry permit -> status change -> medical ->
Emirates ID -> visa stamping
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STEP 9 CORPORATE TAX REGISTRATION [2-4 weeks]
MANDATORY even if you expect to pay nothing.
Within 3 months of incorporation.
Late = AED 10,000
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STEP 10 BANK ACCOUNT [2-8 weeks, or refused]
Needs licence, MoA, establishment card, visas,
and evidence of a real business
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STEP 11 VAT REGISTRATION [5-20 business days]
Only once taxable supplies pass AED 375,000 —
or voluntarily from AED 187,500, including on
EXPENSES alone, to recover VAT on setup costs
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RUNNING Bookkeeping to IFRS -> VAT returns every 28 days
after each period -> corporate tax return 9 months
after year end -> licence renewal annually
Realistic end to end: four to ten weeks to a licence and a visa, and longer if banking is on the critical path. Anyone quoting three days is quoting step 6 alone.
The four cost buckets
The four cost buckets
Bucket
What is in it
Year 1
Every year after
Licence
Registration, trade name, initial approval, the licence itself, chamber fees
Yes
Renewal — the largest recurring item
Establishment and visas
Establishment card, immigration file, entry permit, medical, Emirates ID, stamping, per person
Yes
On renewal, typically every 2 years per visa
Premises
Flexi-desk or office, tenancy, Ejari on the mainland, deposits, fit-out
Yes, plus deposits
Rent and renewal
Compliance
Bookkeeping, VAT returns, corporate tax return, audit where required, registered agent or PRO
Partly — the tax return lands in year two
Yes, in full
Why year two is the expensive one. Year one buys the licence. Year two pays for the licence again, plus the first corporate tax return, plus a full year of bookkeeping, plus an audit if you are a Qualifying Free Zone Person — where there is no revenue floor, so a company turning over AED 400,000 and claiming 0 per cent still needs audited statements. Setup quotes almost never show this, because they are quoting a sale, not a budget.
Model three years, not one
THREE-YEAR COST OF A DUBAI FREE ZONE COMPANY - worked
Aurora Consulting FZ-LLC. One shareholder, one visa,
flexi-desk, claiming Qualifying Free Zone Person status.
YEAR 1 - FORMATION
Trade licence and registration ................ AED 18,500
Establishment card and e-channel .............. AED 2,800
Flexi-desk lease (12 months) .................. AED 12,000
Visa: entry permit, medical, Emirates ID ...... AED 4,300
Document attestation (foreign shareholder) .... AED 3,200
----------------------------------------------------------
YEAR 1 SETUP SUBTOTAL ......................... AED 40,800
RECURRING - EVERY YEAR INCLUDING YEAR 1
Licence and lease renewal ..................... AED 30,500
Bookkeeping (outsourced, monthly) ............. AED 14,400
Statutory audit - mandatory for a QFZP ........ AED 9,000
Corporate tax return preparation .............. AED 6,000
----------------------------------------------------------
RECURRING SUBTOTAL PER YEAR ................... AED 59,900
THREE-YEAR TOTAL
Year 1: setup 40,800 + recurring 59,900 ....... AED 100,700
Year 2: recurring only ........................ AED 59,900
Year 3: recurring only ........................ AED 59,900
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THREE-YEAR COST ............................... AED 220,500
The setup quote for this company was AED 18,500 - the licence
line alone, and 8 per cent of what the first three years
actually cost. The audit and the tax return are the two lines
most often missing from a quote, and together they are
AED 45,000 over three years.
THREE-YEAR BUDGET — fill in your own quotes
YEAR 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3
Licence and registration ______ ______ ______
Trade name and initial approval ______ n/a n/a
Establishment card ______ ______ ______
Visas x ____ people ______ ______ ______
Premises / flexi-desk ______ ______ ______
Deposits (refundable) ______ n/a n/a
------------------------------------------------------------
Bookkeeping ______ ______ ______
VAT return preparation x4 ______ ______ ______
Corporate tax return n/a ______ ______
AUDIT (mandatory if QFZP, or
revenue over AED 50m) n/a ______ ______
PRO / registered agent ______ ______ ______
------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL ______ ______ ______
THEN CHECK
[ ] Does year 2 exceed year 1? For most structures it should.
If your quote implies otherwise, something is missing.
[ ] Is the audit in there, if you are claiming 0%?
[ ] Is corporate tax itself budgeted separately? It is not a
setup cost, but it lands 9 months after year one ends.
The costs quotes leave out
Two of these are legal duties rather than optional spend, which is why they belong in the budget and not in a "maybe later" column. Article 51 of Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 requires every taxable person to register and obtain a Tax Registration Number regardless of profit, with the deadlines set by FTA Decision No. 3 of 2024 against the month your trade licence was first issued. Missing that date costs AED 10,000 under Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023, as amended by Cabinet Decision No. 10 of 2024. Separately, Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 makes audited financial statements mandatory for every Qualifying Free Zone Person for periods commencing on or after 1 January 2025, with no revenue floor — so a free zone company claiming 0 per cent carries an audit fee from year one whatever its size.
Corporate tax registration and the first return. Registration is free; preparing the return is not, and it is compulsory even at nil.
The audit for any Qualifying Free Zone Person, at any revenue.
Document attestation and legalisation for foreign shareholder documents.
Visa medicals, Emirates ID and stamping, quoted per person and easy to under-count.
Bank account opening — the account may be free, the months of delay are not.
Activity amendments. Adding an activity later is a paid change, which is why step 2 deserves more thought than it usually gets.
Closing the company. Deregistration, final returns and licence cancellation cost real money, and an abandoned licence keeps accruing obligations.
Comparing setup quotes that do not compare?
Chartered Advisory models the full three-year cost of the structures you are choosing between, flags what each quote has left out, and handles the setup and the compliance calendar that follows.
Confirm before you rely on this. Fees vary by emirate, free zone and activity, and are changed by each authority independently. Treat any figure as a planning aid and confirm with the specific authority and the Federal Tax Authority before committing. Chartered Advisory prepares and supports; a licensed UAE professional signs where the law requires it.
Sources
This guide is written against the official and clearly labelled professional references below. Rates, thresholds and portal procedures change between reviews, so open the primary source before relying on a figure.
Four to ten weeks end to end for a licence and a first visa, longer if banking is on the critical path. The licence itself can issue in days, but the establishment card, visa staging, corporate tax registration and bank account each add their own weeks. A three-day quote is describing licence issue alone.
Why is the second year more expensive than the first?
Because year two pays for the licence again and adds what year one did not have: a full year of bookkeeping, the first corporate tax return nine months after year end, and — for any Qualifying Free Zone Person — a mandatory audit with no revenue floor. Setup quotes rarely show this because they are quoting a sale rather than a budget.
Do I need an audit for a small free zone company?
If you are claiming Qualifying Free Zone Person status, yes, at any revenue. There is no small-company exemption, and the audit must come from a UAE-licensed firm. Budget it from year two onward — it is one of the largest recurring differences between a free zone 0 per cent position and an ordinary mainland company.
When do I have to register for corporate tax after setting up?
Within three months of incorporation for companies incorporated on or after 1 March 2024. Registration is mandatory regardless of expected tax, including for free zone entities and businesses that will elect Small Business Relief, and missing the window carries a flat AED 10,000 penalty.
Should I register for VAT straight away?
Not unless you have to — but check the expenses limb before deciding. Registration is mandatory once taxable supplies pass AED 375,000, and voluntary from AED 187,500 of supplies, imports or taxable expenses. That last word means a business still fitting out premises can register on its setup costs alone and recover the VAT on them rather than absorbing it.
Scope note: General educational information for Pakistan, not a legal opinion or a substitute for advice based on your documents. Law, notifications, portal procedures and individual facts can change the result.
