
An LLC is a separate and distinct legal entity with limited liability. It requires 51% of the total shareholding to be owned by a UAE national or a company wholly owned by UAE nationals.
Obtaining a name and naming requirements
The trade name reservation is done online for most the and the relevant payment made for the Dubai Economic Department (DED) to issue the Trade Name Reservation certificate. Certain restrictions apply when obtaining a name, for example, a name may not contain the word “Dubai” or the names of countries or offensive or religious words.
Shareholders
The number of shareholders must not exceed 50 and must not be less than 2. Shareholders’ liability limited to their share in the capital. A UAE national or a company wholly owned by UAE nationals must hold at least 51% of the shares, but for circumstances where FDI mitigates this requirement. Maximum ratio of profit and loss shared is 80% to the non-UAE shareholder and 20% to the UAE
shareholder.
There must be a General Assembly composed of all partners convened once a year during the four months following the end of the financial year. Decisions of the General Assembly shall not be valid unless passed by most of the shareholders present in person and those represented at the meeting (unless the company memorandum states a larger majority).
Board of Directors
At least one director/manager should be appointed by the shareholders for formation of the LLC. If there is a Board of Directors and managers appointed, then the meeting requirements should be in accordance with that stated in the company’s Memorandum of Association.
Annual company tax returns
There are no taxes payable, so no filing of tax returns (except for VAT) for both LLC and Branch.
Business registration filing requirements
There are various documents required to be submitted to the Dubai Economic Department (DED), including the application form for reservation of the Trade Name of the company and the application form for initial license approval, the board resolutions and corporate documents of the corporate shareholder, passport copies of the individual shareholders and the officers (directors/manager and general manager).
Local office lease requirement
An owned or rented physical office space is required to set up a business for a Mainland / Local / LLC company Dubai
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