Commercial brokerage company in Dubai: licence

Dubai lives by bringing buyers and sellers together: the trader looking for goods, the factory looking for a market and, in between, the figure who makes the two meet and gets paid for it. That trade — the commercial broker, the commission agent who lives off contacts rather than inventory — has an official activity of its own, and setting it up properly means understanding its golden rule: you are paid to intermediate, never to trade.

The concrete route exists with a name of its own: “Commercial Brokers” (وسيط تجاري), code 5110-03 in the DMCC activity list — activity 4610010 of the general classification — within its professional services. This guide breaks down exactly what it allows, where its limits lie — they are the essence of the activity sheet — and how the commission is taxed.

The official activity: what it allows

The activity covers firms dedicated to bringing together sellers and buyers in wholesale and retail trade, in exchange for a commission or fee. The business is the match: the company detects the demand, finds the supply, brings the parties together and invoices its commission when the deal closes — without touching the goods or taking on the risk of the sale.

The limits: what the activity is not

The official sheet draws the perimeter with two express exclusions, and both matter:

1. No trading on your own account. The broker cannot buy in order to resell: the moment the goods pass through your balance sheet, you stop intermediating and start trading — a different activity, with its own trading licence. The commission is the only income the activity sheet covers.
2. No regulated brokerage. The description expressly excludes real estate, services, shares and bonds and financial brokerage. Each of those fields has its own regulator and its own specific licence in the UAE; 5110-03 covers the intermediation of trade goods, nothing more.

Read properly, the limits are also the commercial argument for the structure: a company that only earns commissions, with no inventory and no position risk, is a clean file for the zone, for the bank and for the client.

Taxes on the commission

The framework is that of any professional services firm in the Emirates, with the nuance specific to the trade: where each commission is located. On VAT, services to local clients are taxed at 5% and supplying clients outside the country can qualify for the 0% rate under the conditions of the regulations — and the broker who connects an Asian exporter with an African buyer invoices an export of services naturally. VAT registration is mandatory once you exceed AED 375,000 of annual taxable turnover. On profits, Corporate Tax at 9% above AED 375,000. For a commission operation with counterparties in several countries, the accounting that documents every transaction — mandate, closing, commission, location — from the first invoice is the difference between a smooth tax close and a regularisation.

Steps to set up the company

1. Activity and scope: confirm that the intermediation of goods covers your real model — and add complementary activities if your operation calls for it.
2. Structure and capital: a company with AED 50,000 of share capital and a Service-type licence.
3. File: shareholders’ KYC and a description of the commission model — who pays you, for which transactions and under which mandate contracts.
4. Incorporation and space in the free zone — from flexi desk to office, depending on the team.
5. Visas for the founder and the sales team.
6. VAT and accounting from the start, with the 5%/0% classification of each commission defined before the first invoice.

Conclusion

The Commercial Brokers activity turns the oldest trade in commerce into a clean structure: a services licence, a reasonable entry capital, no territorial restriction and a written perimeter that protects whoever respects it — commissions yes, own account no; goods yes, regulated brokerage no. For the intermediary who already lives off their contacts and their word, Dubai offers what their business needs: a marketplace where the whole world comes to buy and sell, and a company from which to get paid for bringing them together — with the paperwork, banking and taxation the trade deserves.