A Comprehensive Guide to Company Formation in Dubai for Australian Investors

Moving your business to Dubai from Australia means setting up a UAE company — in a free zone or on the mainland — opening a corporate bank account, getting residency, and then dealing with the harder question on the Australian side: whether you genuinely break Australian tax residency. The company is the easy part. The bank account and the Australian tax position are where most owners come unstuck. This is what the move actually involves, and where it is worth getting advice before you commit.

We open companies in the UAE for owners from the UK, Ireland and Australia. The Australian move has its own shape — the distance, the time difference, and a tax system that does not let go easily — so it is worth setting out plainly.

Why Australian owners do this

The owners we work with are not leaving Australia to lower a tax bill. They are moving to get closer to bigger markets and to run an international business from a base that works for it. Dubai sits between Europe, Asia and Africa, on timezones that overlap a working day in most of them — which Australia, for all its strengths, does not.

For a business selling into Asia, the Middle East or Europe, the distance from Australia is a real cost: in flights, in hours, in being a day behind the people you trade with. Dubai removes most of that. The market on the doorstep is larger and more international, and the UAE is built around businesses that operate across borders.

Tax is part of it, but it is the proof the move works, not the reason for it. If the only reason to go is the tax, the setup tends to fall apart later — at the bank, at renewal, and with the Australian Tax Office. We are upfront about that, and we turn away owners whose only plan is a lower tax bill.

The tax reality — UAE side and Australian side

There are two sides to this, and people tend to focus on the easy one.

The UAE side is simple. There is no personal income tax. Corporate tax is 9% on company profits above AED 375,000, with 0% on qualifying free zone income that meets the conditions. Lower than Australia, but not zero — and not the headline you should set up around. We cover how it works on our UAE corporate tax page.

The Australian side is the hard part, and it is the one that decides whether the move actually delivers. Australia taxes its tax residents on worldwide income. So the question is not “is the UAE low-tax” — it is “have I genuinely stopped being an Australian tax resident”. If you have not, Australia can still tax what the UAE does not.

Australian residency is not a box you tick by buying a plane ticket. The ATO looks at where your life actually is — through several tests, including where you ordinarily reside, your domicile and permanent place of abode, and the time you spend in Australia. Breaking residency means your home, your family, your assets and the centre of your life genuinely move, not just your company. An owner who sets up in Dubai but leaves the family, the house and the day-to-day life in Australia has usually not broken residency at all.

This is why a company on paper does not work. To get the UAE benefit and to satisfy the ATO, you need real presence here — residency, time on the ground, and a business genuinely run from the UAE. That is also, not by coincidence, exactly the kind of move the UAE is built for.

There is a second Australian-side issue worth naming: the capital gains tax position when you leave, including changes affecting foreign residents and assets such as the family home. It is detailed enough to deserve its own page, and getting it wrong is expensive. We cover it separately in Australian CGT and relocating to the UAE — read that before you move anything.

One thing to flag honestly: Australia has had statutory residency reforms proposed for several years, built around a clearer physical-presence rule. As things stand they remain proposed, not law — the existing common-law tests still apply. It is worth checking the current position with an Australian adviser at the time you move, because this is an area that may change. We are not your tax adviser in Australia; we work alongside qualified advisers there and keep the two sides joined up.

Structure — free zone or mainland

An Australian owner can own 100% of a UAE company outright, with no local partner, in either a free zone or on the mainland. The choice between them is not about price. It is about where your customers are.

• Free zone — a clean fit if your customers are mostly outside the UAE. 100% foreign ownership, no minimum capital, relatively quick to set up. There are more than forty free zones in the UAE; only a handful suit a real operating business, and the right one depends on your activity and how the company will bank.
• Mainland — usually the better route if you are selling into the UAE market itself. It gives you direct access to local customers and contracts. Since March 2025 a Dubai free zone company can also apply for a permit to trade in the UAE market, so the line is not as hard as it once was.

We do not push a particular free zone or a particular route. Both are fine when they fit. We set out the honest picture for your situation, check the banking against your activity, and the choice is yours. The detail is on our free zones overview and Dubai mainland pages, and the structures themselves — free zone company, branch, holding — on the company structures page.

Banking — the part that decides the setup

The bank account is where most moves come unstuck. Banks here run real checks, and they will not easily take on a business that does not make sense to them — the wrong free zone, a thin activity, an owner with no genuine presence. The way the company is set up decides which banks will work with you, so that is where we start.

Before we set anything up, we speak to the bank directly about the company — the activity, the structure, the owner — so they tell us up front whether they see any issues and what they would need to open the account. Then we build the company to suit. It is the opposite of setting up first and hoping the bank says yes.

Timing and cost depend on the business:

• A small, single-owner, low-risk business under AED 3m — typically a digital business account, open in 3 to 4 days. Our fee to run the application is AED 3,000.
• A larger company, more shareholders or revenue at AED 3m and above — a full corporate account, usually 7 to 10 days. Our fee is AED 12,000.
• Higher-risk activity — physical-product trading, commodities, property, investment — can take up to 3 months and may require a balance held with the bank. Our fee is from AED 15,000.

Those are our fees to run the application start to finish, separate from the bank’s own charges and the licence costs. The exact figure is set in the first conversation, before any work begins. There is more on how this works on our UAE business bank account page.

What we actually do

We handle the whole job and stay involved after the licence is issued. The company, the bank account, the visas and Emirates ID for you, your staff and your family, and then the bookkeeping, the yearly accounts and the corporate tax. You deal with Gareth from the first call onwards, not a department.

End to end — company, bank account and residency in place, ready to trade — is usually around five to six weeks. The company itself is quick; the time goes into the bank’s checks, residency and source-of-funds. Most of the real work is in the first year, and that is where we stay.

For the Australian tax side, we work alongside qualified tax advisers in Australia and the UAE, or with your own adviser, and we keep in direct contact with them so you are not left holding the two sides together. We are not a full-spectrum advisory firm and we do not pretend to be — we are focused operational support for getting the business set up and running properly here.

Not every business works in the UAE. If yours does not, we will say so before you spend anything.

Common questions

Can an Australian business owner set up a company in Dubai?

Yes. An Australian owner can own 100% of a UAE company, in a free zone or on the mainland, with no local partner. The harder parts are usually the bank account and the Australian-side tax position, not the company itself.

Do I still pay Australian tax if I move my business to Dubai?

It depends on whether you genuinely break Australian tax residency. The UAE has no personal income tax and 9% corporate tax above AED 375,000, but if you remain an Australian tax resident, Australia can still tax your worldwide income. Breaking residency is the part that needs real advice.

How long does it take to set up a company in Dubai from Australia?

The company itself is quick — often a couple of weeks. End to end, to trading with a bank account and residency in place, is usually around five to six weeks, driven by formation, residency and the bank's checks.

Free zone or mainland for an Australian owner?

It depends on where your customers are. Mostly outside the UAE — a free zone is a clean fit. Selling into the UAE market — the mainland route is often better. The activity and how the company banks matter more than the headline price.

Do I need to be in Dubai to run the company?

To get genuine UAE tax benefits and to break Australian residency cleanly, you need real presence — residency, time on the ground, and a business actually run from here. A company on paper with you still living in Australia does not achieve either.