{"id":179,"date":"2026-08-03T17:07:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T17:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neobankfit.com\/blog\/?p=179"},"modified":"2026-08-03T17:07:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T17:07:58","slug":"dubai-freelance-visa-vs-free-zone-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neobankfit.com\/blog\/dubai-freelance-visa-vs-free-zone-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Dubai Freelance Visa vs Free Zone Company: 2026 Costs and Who Actually Wins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every comparison of the Dubai freelance permit against a free zone company is a comparison of licence prices, and the licence price is the least interesting number in the decision. The two routes make you a different kind of taxpayer under UAE corporate tax law, and the relief that currently hides that difference stops applying to tax periods ending after 31 December 2026.<\/p>

Ask which is cheaper and you get a spread: a freelance permit from roughly AED 5,750, a free zone company package from roughly AED 6,000 in Ras Al Khaimah upwards. The two products sit close together inside a single emirate, and which one an agency recommends tends to depend on which one it sells.<\/p>

For a solo freelancer with turnover under AED 1 million a year, the freelance permit wins on structure rather than price: as a natural person you sit outside UAE corporate tax altogether, with nothing to register for it, nothing to elect and no annual return to file.<\/strong> A free zone company is a juridical person from day one. It is currently sheltered by Small Business Relief up to AED 3 million of revenue, but that relief only covers tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026 and no extension has been announced. After it lapses the company either meets the full Qualifying Free Zone Person conditions, audited IFRS financials included, or pays 9% on taxable income above AED 375,000.<\/p>

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