Jurisdiction
Ras Al Khaimah (RAK ICC)
A UAE corporate registry rather than a free zone, used for holding rather than operating. The cheapest UAE vehicle to establish and keep, and the one whose tax position is most often described wrongly.
- Registry
- RAK International Corporate Centre
- Common vehicles
- International business company, foundation, limited partnership
- Formation
- Through a licensed registered agent
- Indicative cost
- About AED 6,000 to AED 12,000 to form, similar to renew
- Visas
- None
- Corporate tax status
- Resident Person; 0% to AED 375,000, then 9% on worldwide income
- Zero per cent route
- Only via a commercial licence under Emiri Decree No. 12 of 2024, plus QFZP conditions and substance
- CT registration
- Mandatory regardless of revenue; AED 10,000 late-registration penalty
What it is good for
Cost. Formation through a registered agent runs from roughly AED 6,000 to AED 12,000 all in, with renewal at a similar level. Against ADGM or DIFC that is a different order of expense.
Simplicity of ownership. One person can be sole shareholder and sole director, and the company can hold assets including Dubai freehold property, without UAE residency and without taking an office.
It sits in the UAE. For a client whose affairs are already in the Emirates, a UAE-registered holding vehicle avoids introducing a Caribbean jurisdiction into a structure that otherwise has no connection to one.
What it asks of you
A registered agent. Incorporation and maintenance run through a licensed agent; there is no direct filing.
No visa, and no substance. A RAK ICC company sponsors nobody and has no premises. Where the structure needs people to be somewhere, this is not the vehicle.
Corporate tax registration, regardless of revenue. Late registration carries an AED 10,000 penalty, and the obligation does not wait for the company to have income.
The tax position, which is widely misstated
A RAK ICC company is a UAE-incorporated juridical person and therefore a Resident Person under the federal corporate tax law. It is taxed on worldwide income at nil up to AED 375,000 and 9 per cent above that.
It is not a Free Zone Person by default, and the zero per cent Qualifying Free Zone Person regime does not apply to it as incorporated. Published guidance frequently says the opposite, in both directions, and the disagreement is usually two writers describing different routes without saying so.
The route exists but has to be taken deliberately. Under Emiri Decree No. 12 of 2024 an existing RAK ICC company can obtain a commercial licence covering its activities without re-incorporating or re-domiciling. Licensed, and with adequate substance, it may then satisfy the Qualifying Free Zone Person conditions and reach zero per cent on qualifying income. Unlicensed and unsubstanced, it does not.
Anyone told that a RAK ICC company is tax-free should ask which of those two positions is being described, and see the licence.
When we would look elsewhere
Where the structure needs residence, banking depth or regulatory standing, ADGM or DIFC will do what this cannot. Where investors need to recognise the vehicle, Cayman or BVI will need less explaining. This is a low-cost holding registry and it is at its best when that is all that is being asked of it.