An e-commerce licence permits you to sell online. The licence itself is straightforward and cheap. What is not straightforward is the decision underneath it — because if you sell to UAE consumers from a free zone, that revenue is generally not qualifying income for corporate tax, and the saving on your licence can cost you the 0% rate entirely.
What an ecommerce licence Dubai covers
Selling goods or services through a website, marketplace, social media or app. Both mainland and free zone authorities issue e-commerce activities, and the activity list distinguishes between selling your own stock, dropshipping, and operating a marketplace for others.
Those are genuinely different activities, and choosing the wrong one causes problems later — with payment providers, with banks, and with how your revenue is characterised. If you both hold stock and dropship, say so at the outset so the licence covers both.
The question that decides everything
Where are your customers? For an e-commerce business this is not a marketing question, it is a tax and structure question — and it should be answered before you compare licence prices.
Selling to customers outside the UAE, or to other free zone entities, generally produces qualifying income. A free zone licence works well and the 0% rate is available if you meet the other Qualifying Free Zone Person conditions.
Selling to UAE consumers is different. That revenue is generally non-qualifying, and exceeding the de minimis threshold — the lower of 5% of revenue or AED 5 million — costs you 0% status on your entire income, for that period and potentially four more. For a business whose whole model is UAE delivery, a mainland licence is frequently the better structure despite costing more. The reasoning is set out in mainland versus free zone.
Payment gateways and why the zone matters
Payment providers and marketplaces run their own onboarding checks, and they assess your registered address, licence activity and banking arrangement.
A recognisable Dubai address clears review more smoothly than one from an unfamiliar zone, which is a large part of why Meydan has become a default choice for online retail. Your licence activity also has to actually match what you sell — a gateway reviewing a licence that says "general trading" against a site selling supplements will ask questions.
Expect to provide the licence, bank details, website URL, product list, refund and shipping policies, and often proof of supplier relationships.
VAT for online sellers
E-commerce reaches the mandatory VAT registration threshold on turnover, not margin — so a business with thin margins and high volume crosses it quickly.
Treatment varies by transaction: sales to UAE customers are generally standard rated; exports of goods outside the UAE may be zero rated with evidence; digital services have their own place-of-supply rules. Marketplace sales add a layer, because the platform may handle collection in some jurisdictions and not others. Get the mapping right early — unpicking two years of mis-rated transactions is a voluntary disclosure exercise nobody enjoys.
What it costs
- Free zone e-commerce licence — from around AED 12,500 at Meydan or IFZA
- Mainland e-commerce licence — higher, plus premises, Ejari and the 5% market fee
- Each visa — roughly AED 3,500 to 5,500 including medical and Emirates ID
- Realistic free zone first year with one visa — AED 18,000 to 25,000
Take at least one visa. Without an Emirates ID, both corporate banking and payment gateway onboarding become considerably harder, and a gateway you cannot open is a business you cannot run.
Stock, fulfilment and accounting
If you hold inventory, your bookkeeping carries obligations a service business does not have. Stock must be counted at year end and valued correctly, and a missed count cannot be reconstructed — it leads directly to a qualified opinion from your auditor.
Warehousing in a low-cost zone such as RAKEZ while licensing elsewhere is common, but moving goods into the UAE mainland triggers customs duty and clearance. Model that cost alongside the qualifying income consequence rather than separately.
Formation process
- Customer and model analysis — where you sell, and whether you hold stock
- Jurisdiction decision, tested against the corporate tax position
- Activity selection matching your actual model
- Name reservation and licence application
- Licence issuance
- Establishment card and visas
- Bank account and payment gateway applications, prepared together
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Selling commercially through social media requires a licence covering that activity, regardless of platform.
Commercially yes, but that revenue is generally non-qualifying for corporate tax and counts toward the de minimis threshold. Exceeding it costs 0% status entirely.
Meydan is a common choice for the central Dubai address, which helps with payment gateway onboarding. The right answer still depends on where your customers are.
Only if you hold stock yourself. Dropshipping and third party fulfilment models do not require one, though they change how revenue is recognised.
At the mandatory threshold, measured on turnover. High-volume, thin-margin online businesses reach it faster than founders expect.
Generally yes, though marketplaces run their own onboarding checks on licence, address and banking. Activity must match what you actually sell.
Getting started
Tell us what you sell, to whom, and whether you hold stock. Those three answers decide jurisdiction, activity and whether the 0% rate is realistically available to you.