The DMCC trading SME that almost lost 0%Composite
AED 14M turnover, 12 staff, mixed UAE + Saudi customers
Situation
Client believed they were a Qualifying Free Zone Person and had been filing on the 0% rate. We were brought in for a routine second-look on the prior period before the annual return.
What we found
~18% of revenue was from UAE mainland customers — not "qualifying" income under Cabinet Decision 100 of 2023. The de minimis threshold (5% / AED 5M) was breached. They were on track to lose QFZP for that year AND the following four periods.
What we did
Restructured contracts so qualifying / non-qualifying flows ran through separate entities (one free-zone, one mainland), with arm's-length intercompany agreements documented under transfer-pricing rules.
Timeline
Discovery week 1. Position memo week 2. Restructuring complete and contracts re-signed by month 4 — ahead of year-end.
Estimated tax saved
AED 1.26M
over a 5-year window vs. failing the QFZP test
"They didn't just file what we'd already done. They told us, in plain English, where the rule we'd assumed didn't actually apply — before the FTA did."
— Managing Director (composite)
The F&B chain six months behind on booksComposite
5 outlets across Dubai & Sharjah, AED 28M turnover, family ownership
Situation
Previous accountant had been late every month for over a year. By the time the owner reached out, six months of bookkeeping was un-done, VAT had been filed on estimates, and CT registration was overdue.
What we found
Inconsistent expense coding across outlets, three POS systems not reconciled to the ledger, and AED 47k of input VAT that had never been claimed. Plus the AED 10,000 CT-registration-late penalty was already accruing.
What we did
Onboarded with a one-off clean-up package (AED 2,500). Migrated to Wafeq, standardised the POS-to-ledger mapping, rebuilt six months of books, filed a voluntary disclosure for the under-claimed VAT, and got CT registration filed under the FTA's reasonable-cause waiver.
Timeline
Onboarded in 5 business days. Six months of books closed by week 6. Voluntary disclosure approved in 11 weeks.
Net recovered
AED 47k
in input VAT, plus AED 10k CT penalty waived
"Going from 6 months behind to closing on day 15 of each month felt impossible. They did it without us hiring anyone."
— Owner (composite)
Mainland services firm preparing for the e-invoicing mandateComposite
AED 22M turnover, 38 staff, 200+ invoices/month
Situation
Client wanted to be ready well before the FTA's e-invoicing mandatory go-live (Jan 2027). Their ERP was a legacy on-premises Microsoft Dynamics instance, never mapped to PINT AE or Peppol.
What we did
Ran a readiness assessment, selected an Accredited Service Provider, mapped 14 invoice templates to PINT AE schema, set up the test environment, and ran 30 days of parallel testing through the July 2026 pilot phase.
Pilot success rate
100%
of test invoices accepted on first submission
"By the time the mandate hits everyone else, we've already been live for 8 months. That's the whole point."
— Finance Director (composite)
Family-office holding with 4 UAE subsidiariesComposite
Real estate, F&B, retail, professional services. AED 90M consolidated turnover.
Situation
Three different bookkeepers across four entities, three different chart-of-accounts conventions, no consolidated reporting, and a CT position that hadn't been thought through at the group level.
What we did
Replaced all three bookkeepers with a single Tier 4 engagement. Standardised the COA across entities, set up monthly consolidated management accounts, ran the CT group-eligibility test, elected for tax-group treatment under Article 40 of FDL 47.
Annual fee saving
~AED 65k
vs. previous fragmented arrangements, plus one accountable owner
"Three accountants became one and the work got better. We weren't expecting that."
— Family Office Principal (composite)