UAE attracting thousands of companies despite corporate tax, says expert

29/05/2025 02:41 AST

The UAE has been attracting thousands of companies from Europe, CIS and other countries because of its favourable, low tax environment and availability of talent among others, said Anurag Chaturvedi, CEO of Andersen UAE.

While speaking during the New Age Finance and Accounting Summit organized by Khaleej Times on Wednesday, Chaturvedi said, "When UAE introduced 9 per cent corporate tax, a lot of people were thinking that UAE was going to lose its advantage of tax-haven and the economy will have a downtrend shift. On the contrary, over 200,000 businesses registered in the UAE between 2022 and 2024, despite the introduction of corporate tax - which was one of the lowest in the world."

Highlighting the advantages of establishing a business in the UAE, he added that the country offers different ownership structures, dozens of free zones that offer various incentives, a strategic location that allows people to travel to any of the global jurisdictions within a fraction of time, a robust banking system and smart infrastructure.

"Each time you travel across the UAE, you see a lot of traffic. Obviously, it is because a lot of people are travelling to the UAE to tap into opportunities in this country, because it is one of the fastest growing countries which really adopts global trends quickly," he said during the presentation titled The Global Tax Landscape - Why UAE Remains a Competitive Advantage.

What is attracting entrepreneurs to the UAE?
The one-day summit was attended by hundreds of top finance and tax industry executives. Top officials from the financial industry discussed topical issues that the industry is experiencing, especially related to AI, corporate taxes, e-invoicing and others.

Chaturvedi elaborated that the push to attract companies and talent is coming from government entities, free zones and chambers of commerce.

"Be it the economic department, free zone, chambers of commerce, they work hand-in-hand, bringing a lot of entrepreneurs to the UAE by involving the entire ecosystem," he added.

Chaturvedi also noted that companies in the Western world are facing the challenge of a lack of talent availability or the talent is too expensive. "When you look into the UAE, we are home to 190-plus nationalities. They're available at different levels. And new talent keeps coming," he added.

Khaleej Times