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Looking for Sharjah Freezone Business Setup? Find out why a free zone in Sharjah is potentially the best destination for your company.
Sharjah Freezone Business Setup
Sharjah is located just 20 minutes from Dubai. Owing to lower company incorporation costs, several entrepreneurs are now opening their companies in Sharjah. This not only presents them with a host of advantages, but also provides them easy access to the much wider market of Dubai.
Sharjah has its own international airport that is home to Air Arabia, which flies to 170 destinations worldwide. It is also just 16 km or so from the Dubai International Airport, which is home to Emirates, another international airline that connects 85 countries around the world. Two-thirds of the world’s destinations can be reached by means of a flight that takes eight hours or less from Sharjah / Dubai. Sharjah also has three seaports, making it a strategic destination for those in the transport and logistics sector.
Because the costs of housing are lesser in Sharjah compared to Dubai, a lot of employees who would otherwise work in Dubai reside in Sharjah. Opening a company in Sharjah also means that your employees can arrive fresh at the office, unhassled by the fatigue associated with the morning commute. This can work wonders for your company’s productivity.
Sharjah Freezone Business Setup offers more commercial space options than the mainland. This means that you can scale up and move into a larger office at any time, without changing your address. You are also exempted from import and export duties in a free zone. You can repatriate 100% of your capital and profits at any time. There is no tax on personal income in the United Arab Emirates. There is also no short-term capital gains tax or long-term capital gains tax. Companies in a free zone are also exempted from Value Added Tax when doing business with other free zone companies.
How to Register a Company in Sharjah Freezone
The first step involves drafting the company formation documents. You need to decide beforehand how many owners there will be for the company. For instance, if there is only a single owner, you could set it up as a Sole Establishment (this is the same as a Sole Proprietorship). If there is more than one owner, you could look at establishing your company as a Limited Liability Company.
It is to be noted that only Limited Liability Company structures (including the Sole Establishment company structure), are permitted in free zones. If not a Sole Establishment, you have to register a company as a Limited Liability Company. The minimum number of shareholders required for a Limited Liability Company is two and the maximum number allowed is 50. In a Limited Liability Company, all shareholders own an equal number of shares in the company – there cannot be majority shareholders or minority shareholders.
A single-owner Sole Establishment company in a free zone has at the end of its name the initials FZE. This stands for Free Zone Establishment. In the case of a Limited Liability Company in a free zone, it has at the end of its name FZC, which stands for Free Zone Company. Some may choose to have the initials FZCO, which too stands for Free Zone Company. Yet some others use the initials FZ-LLC, short for Free Zone-Limited Liability Company.
You also need to lease commercial space in the free zone. Depending on your operational needs, this could be office space, a warehouse, or a combination of both (an office that has its own dedicated warehouse). There are plenty of options in a free zone. There are warehouses of multiple sizes that you could choose from. When it comes to office space, you could choose anything from a single desk in a co-working space to fully furnished office space that you could move into right away.
Depending on the free zone, it may also be possible to rent semi-furnished office space and do up the interiors yourself. What you need to keep in mind is that you need to lease 100 square feet of commercial space for every employee you plan to hire. In case you plan to start small and scale up as you go, you can always move into a larger office at any time.
The best part about scaling up in a free zone is that your registered office address does not change, even if you move out into another office or warehouse. Your address is a PO Box at the free zone, so you can scale up or down at any time.
A business setup consultant can help you draw up the company formation documents, and also run a search to see if the name you have in mind for your company is available. In case it has already been registered by another business entity, you have to provide another name for your proposed company. The company formation documents outline the name of the company, the purpose it is being set up for, and who the owners are.
A good business setup in Dubai expert can also tell you that in the United Arab Emirates, there are certain rules pertaining to company nomenclature. For example, you are not allowed to have religious names for your company. You cannot have the names of countries in your company name, which is referred to as your trade name. However, nationalities are permitted, as are the names of geographical regions. A first name is allowed only if it is the first name of one of the shareholders.
Terms like ‘Global’ and ‘International’ cannot be the first part of your company name.
The company formation documents have to be submitted along with the Lease Agreement to the Free Zone Authority in charge of the free zone. If everything is in order, company registration and a Business License are granted within a matter of days. Once you receive company registration and a Business License, you can commence operations immediately. You can also open a corporate bank account so that you can make and receive payments with ease.
List of Documents Required for Sharjah Freezone Business Setup
- A copy of your passport
- A copy of your visa, if already in the United Arab Emirates
- A copy of your Emirates ID, if a resident of the United Arab Emirates
- Proof of residency in your country of residence, if not a resident of the UAE
- Articles of Incorporation / Company Formation Documents
- A copy of the Lease Agreement for the commercial space leased
- Additional approvals as may be required
*The documents pertaining to individuals have to be submitted for every shareholder.
Why Choose Us For Freezone Company Registration in Sharjah?
We have years of experience when it comes to establishing free zone companies in Sharjah. We have been of professional assistance to clients from 100 countries around and have an excellent client satisfaction rate to speak of so far. Contact A&A Associate LLC
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