News & Insights
Analysis, regulatory updates and practical guidance for business leaders operating in the UAE and wider Middle East.
- Finance, Tax & Compliance
Transfer pricing for UAE groups: when an intercompany invoice becomes a tax problem
UAE transfer pricing rules apply to every related-party transaction, regardless of size, with no minimum threshold below which the arm's length principle is waived. An intercompany management fee set without a defensible method is a compliance gap from day one, not just at audit.
- Finance, Tax & Compliance
UAE business loans in 2026: rate ranges, tenors and what banks ask SMEs for
UAE SME loan rates span a wide range, roughly 4.25% to 18%, and where a specific business lands in that range depends on facility type and security, not just the bank's general pricing. Here's what actually moves the number.
- Finance, Tax & Compliance
UAE margin benchmarks: where 22% gross is fine and where it is fatal
A 22% gross margin is a perfectly healthy number for a wholesale distributor and a warning sign for a specialty retailer. Benchmarking margin without benchmarking it against your specific industry band is how businesses misdiagnose a real problem as normal, or panic over a non-issue.
- Finance, Tax & Compliance
Unit economics for a marketplace: the three-sided contribution margin
A marketplace's take rate looks like the whole economics story until you split CAC and contribution margin by side. Growing GMV while contribution margin per side is negative isn't scaling a business, it's scaling a loss.
- Finance, Tax & Compliance
Unlimited vs limited contract gratuity after the 2022 reform: what actually changed
Unlimited contracts don't exist in the UAE anymore, Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 abolished them outright in 2022. The gratuity question that actually matters now isn't which contract type you have, it's what the reform did to the old employee-resignation penalty.
- Finance, Tax & Compliance
Valuing a UAE SME: revenue multiple, EBITDA multiple and reality
EBITDA multiples for UAE SMEs run 4x-15x depending on sector, but that range is where the real negotiation starts, not where a valuation ends. Here's how the two multiple methods actually work, and where they diverge from theory.
- Finance, Tax & Compliance
VAT-inclusive vs VAT-exclusive pricing: how the wrong choice eats 4.8% of margin
UAE law requires prices to be displayed VAT-inclusive by default. A business that prices as if the displayed number is pre-VAT, then absorbs the 5% on top, is quietly giving away close to a twentieth of every sale.
- Finance, Tax & Compliance
VAT on exports vs designated zones: the two rules traders confuse most
Zero-rated and "outside the scope of VAT" sound like the same thing on an invoice, but they're governed by different rules with different documentation requirements, and mixing them up is a common filing error.
- Finance, Tax & Compliance
Visa quota and setup cost: how office size drives your headcount ceiling
Your visa quota isn't set by your business plan or your hiring ambitions, it's set by the square metres on your Ejari contract. Here's the ratio MOHRE actually applies, and why upsizing the office is often the real cost of the next hire.
- Finance, Tax & Compliance
What counts as qualifying income for a free zone trading company, with worked numbers
Qualifying income for a UAE free zone company is a closed list, not a general free-zone discount, and even a Qualifying Free Zone Person can lose the whole 0% status for a tax period by earning too much non-qualifying revenue.
- Finance, Tax & Compliance
Why marketing ROI calculations lie unless you include the sales cost
A marketing ROI number built from ad spend alone flatters every channel that needs a sales team to close what it generates. Fully-loaded CAC, including the SDR, the AE, and their commission, tells a very different story.
- Finance, Tax & Compliance
Why three-year CAGR flatters a business that had one good year
A 3-year CAGR built on two flat years and one exceptional one produces the same headline number as three years of steady, repeatable growth. Investors who don't ask for the year-by-year path can't tell the two apart.
- Finance, Tax & Compliance
Working capital cycle: turning DSO, DIO and DPO into one actionable number
DSO, DIO and DPO measured separately are three interesting numbers. Combined into the cash conversion cycle, they become the single figure that tells you how many days your own cash is tied up before it comes back.
- Finance, Tax & Compliance
UAE business tax and compliance: the complete 2026 guide
Corporate tax, VAT, e-invoicing, free zone status and setup structure: how the UAE's overlapping obligations actually fit together, which deadlines are live right now, and where each one is decided.