Questions to Ask a UAE Business Setup Consultant Before Paying

Ask these questions before paying a UAE business setup consultant: how to verify licences, itemise fees, and avoid an AED 10,000 corporate tax penalty.

10 October 2026Qawi8 min read

Key takeaways

Before paying a UAE business setup consultant, verify the consultant's own licence, the licence of the free zone or mainland authority you'll be registered with, and whether the consultant will do any tax work in its own name.
A UAE business setup quote is only comparable with another quote if it separates government fees from the consultant's fees and states what is excluded, such as visas, renewals and bank account support.
Corporate tax registration is a separate filing with the FTA, and the administrative penalty for late registration is AED 10,000 (Cabinet Decision No. 10 of 2024, effective 1 March 2024), so ask who registers you and by when.
UAE company service providers fall under anti-money laundering supervision: in August 2023 the Ministry of Economy suspended 50 DNFBP establishments for three months for not registering on goAML, so asking a consultant about goAML registration is reasonable.
A good consultant answers every question in writing, and a consultant who won't put fees, scope and exit terms on paper is telling you something before you've paid.

Which questions should you ask a business setup consultant before paying?

Ask about six things: who they are, what the quote covers, which fees come after year one, who handles tax and accounting, what you own on day one, and how you leave. Each one has a clear answer you can check, and the table below gives the question and what a usable answer looks like.

Area	Question to ask	What a usable answer looks like
Identity	What is your licence number and which authority issued it?	A number you can look up on the issuing authority's portal
Scope	Which tasks are you doing, and which are mine or the authority's?	A written scope listing each filing, approval and visa step
Fees	Which fees go to the government and which are yours?	Two separate columns in the quote, with exclusions named
Year two	What will renewal cost, and what changes after year one?	A written renewal estimate or the authority's published fee schedule
Tax	Who registers me for corporate tax and VAT, and who files afterwards?	A named responsible party and a date, or a plain "not included"
Exit	If I leave, what do I get and how fast?	Your documents, portal access and licence records handed over

How do you check the consultant and the licence are real?

Search for the consultant's licence on the issuing authority's own portal, and do the same for the licence your new company will hold. The UAE government's business-licence page lists the lookups by emirate, including the National Economic Registry at federal level and Dubai Economy and Tourism's licence search; it doesn't cover free zones, so check a free zone's own register or ask its office directly.

Dubai Economy and Tourism's licence search takes a licence number or a business name and returns the number and name in English and Arabic; opening a result shows the company profile and its licences. Use it to confirm that the name on the consultant's quote matches the name on the licence, and that the licensed activities include corporate services.

If the consultant says it files taxes for clients, check the FTA's Registered Tax Agents directory. It can be searched by keyword and filtered by emirate or experience, and each entry carries a TAAN registration number. At the time of writing, the directory was last updated on 25 July 2023, so confirm any listing with the FTA before relying on it.

Ask one more question: is the consultant registered on goAML? Company service providers sit within the DNFBP group that the Ministry of Economy supervises under Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2018 (the law cited in its August 2023 notice). The Ministry reported fines of about AED 76.9 million on 225 DNFBP companies since the start of 2023 and suspended 50 establishments for not registering. A newer anti-money laundering decree-law, Federal Decree-Law No. 10 of 2025, now exists, so ask the consultant which rules it works under.

What should the quote and contract spell out?

A usable quote lists each government fee separately from the consultant's fee, names every item left out, and says what happens if the authority rejects an application. Two quotes with different totals tell you nothing until both are broken down the same way.

Ask for these items in writing:

The activity list on the licence, because the authority prices and approves by activity.
The number of visas included and what each extra visa costs.
Whether an establishment card, immigration card, office or desk, and Ejari (where relevant) are included.
Whether bank account support is a service, a referral or a promise; no consultant controls a bank's decision.
What the consultant does if an application is rejected: refund, resubmission at no charge, or a fresh fee.
The payment schedule, tied to milestones rather than paid in one block upfront.

What will it cost after year one?

Ask for the year-two cost before you pay for year one, because a low setup price often moves cost into renewals, visas and compliance. Renewal fees, visa fees and lease terms are set by your free zone or mainland authority and your activity, so no single figure applies to every company; ask for the authority's current fee schedule and check it against the consultant's estimate.

Ask four things: the renewal date and who reminds you, whether the licence fee changes with a lease upgrade, what each visa renewal costs, and whether accounting is required for renewal in your free zone. Some free zones ask for audited accounts at renewal and others don't; the answer depends on the zone, so make the consultant name the rule and its source.

Who handles corporate tax, VAT and accounting after setup?

Setting up a company doesn't register it for tax. Corporate tax registration is its own FTA application, and free zone companies are included: the FTA treats resident juridical persons, free zone persons among them, as having a mandatory registration period.

The penalty for late corporate tax registration is AED 10,000, set by Cabinet Decision No. 10 of 2024 (amending Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023) from 1 March 2024. For companies incorporated before that date, FTA Decision No. 3 of 2024 set deadlines by the month the licence was issued; for newer companies, check the same decision for your incorporation date. Ask the consultant which date applies to you and who submits the application on EmaraTax.

If you'd rather not track these dates by hand, the UAE compliance calendar is a free calendar of your company's UAE tax and compliance deadlines, personalised from a few questions, as a PDF and calendar file.

What happens if you want to leave the consultant?

You should be able to leave with your documents, your portal access and your licence records in hand, and the contract should say so. Many setups are done under a consultant's own portal logins or a PRO's authority, so ask who holds the log-ins to the free zone portal, the immigration account and EmaraTax, and how they are handed over.

Ask for a copy of everything filed in your name: incorporation documents, the licence, the Memorandum of Association, tenancy papers, and tax registration confirmations. If a consultant ties these to continuing a retainer, you've found the exit cost, and it's better found now than at renewal.

AED 10,000: administrative penalty for late corporate tax registration, which applies from 1 March 2024. Source: Cabinet Decision No. 10 of 2024 amending Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023, per the Ministry of Finance, checked 10 October 2026.

What most guides don't tell you

The licence in your name isn't the same as the consultant's licence. You can verify your new company's licence and still not know whether the consultant was ever licensed to provide corporate services. Check both, and keep the two apart in your head.
Ownership of the paperwork can sit with the provider. If log-ins are in the provider's name, your exit depends on their cooperation. Ask who is the named account holder on each portal before you pay.
Tax deadlines start from your licence, not from your first invoice. A company with no sales can still owe a registration, so a consultant who says "nothing to do until you trade" deserves a follow-up question. Ask them to cite the FTA rule.
A bank account is a referral, not a deliverable. Banks decide on their own checks; a consultant can prepare documents, but a quote that guarantees an account is promising something it doesn't control.

Which deadlines apply to your company?

Once you've picked a consultant, the next question is what you owe and when. The free UAE compliance calendar lists your company's UAE tax and compliance deadlines, personalised from a few questions, as a PDF and calendar file.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check if a company formation agent is legit?

Look the agent's own licence up on the issuing authority's portal, ask for their goAML registration if they act as a corporate service provider, and get their scope and fees in writing. If they offer tax services, search the FTA's Registered Tax Agents directory for their TAAN number.

Are there hidden fees in UAE company formation packages?

A package price can leave out items such as visas, establishment cards, office or desk upgrades, bank account support and renewals, depending on the provider and free zone. Ask for a line-by-line quote that separates government fees from the provider's own charges and says what is excluded.

What are the ongoing costs after setting up a UAE company?

Ongoing costs usually include licence renewal, visa renewals, any office or desk lease, and compliance work such as accounting and tax filings. The amounts depend on your free zone or mainland authority and your activity, so ask for a year-two cost estimate before you pay for year one.

Can I set up a company in the UAE while employed by another company?

Whether you can depends on your employment contract and on what the licensing authority asks of you, and this post hasn't verified a rule that covers every case. Check your contract first, then ask the consultant to name the authority's requirement in writing.

About Qawi · Qawi is a corporate services firm licensed in the Sharjah Media City (SHAMS) free zone, handling company formation, visas and PRO, bookkeeping, VAT and corporate tax for UAE businesses. Guides are researched from FTA, Ministry of Finance and free zone sources. Qawi on LinkedIn

Sources

Last checked: 10 October 2026

This is general information, not tax or legal advice for your specific situation.