Trade Licence Cancellation and Company Liquidation in Dubai

Closing a business on the Dubai mainland ends with one step: cancelling the trade licence with the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET). How you get there depends on the legal form. A sole establishment or a civil company cancels its licence once its labour and visa files are closed. A commercial company, including every LLC, has to be liquidated first, in two phases separated by a mandatory 45-day window for creditors. This page sets out the official fees, the route for each legal form, what has to be closed before and after DET, the tax deregistration deadlines and how free zones differ, from the DET service page, the laws behind it and the authorities involved, as checked on 27 September 2026.

Trade licence cancellation cost in Dubai

These are the fees the authorities publish for the steps of a closure. There is no official total, because which lines apply depends on the legal form and on what the business holds.

The DET amounts are from its “Request for cancellation of trade licence” service page. The Dubai fees resolution of 2011 lists older base amounts for the same services, so an agent quoting you different government fees may be reading that text. Anyone quoting an all-in price is quoting their own service fee plus an estimate of the rest: ask which part is the government fee.

Which route applies to your business

The UAE Government Portal lists the forms that need a liquidator: general partnership, limited liability company, simple limited partnership, and public and private joint stock companies. For a sole establishment it also mentions a no objection letter from MOHRE and proof of residence cancellation for owners who are not GCC nationals.

How company liquidation works

A commercial company cannot simply cancel its licence. The shareholders resolve to liquidate, appoint a liquidator, and wait out the creditor window before DET cancels the licence.

Phase 1: the resolution, the liquidator and the notice

• Notarised minutes of the general assembly confirming the liquidation and naming the liquidator.
• A letter from the liquidator accepting the appointment, with a copy of their licence, their auditor registration certificate and a notarised signature specimen.
• AED 520 for the certificate of dissolution and liquidator appointment, subject to the legal adviser’s approval.
• A notice of liquidation in two Arabic local newspapers, for one day, giving creditors 45 days to submit claims.

The federal Commercial Companies Law sets a floor of 30 days for creditor claims; DET’s 45 days is the rule in Dubai. The liquidator must not be the company’s auditor, or have audited it in the previous five years.

Phase 2: the report and the cancellation

• The original newspaper with the notice, and the company’s final report.
• A declaration from the liquidator and the partners that no objections were received within the 45 days.
• Cancellation of labour cards through MOHRE.
• Copies of the general assembly minutes and the certificate of dissolution.

With that submitted, the licence is cancelled permanently. DET says the counter transaction takes 10 minutes at a service centre; the closure as a whole takes as long as the 45 days and the other authorities take.

Licence expired more than two years

DET runs a separate route for a company whose licence expired more than two years ago: an undertaking by the local partner that he is liable for the company’s debts, evidence for the reason, such as a partner abroad for more than six months or whose whereabouts are unknown, a notice in widely circulated Arabic newspapers with a 15-day window instead of 45, and an undertaking that the company has no recorded liabilities.

What to close before and after DET

1. Employee work permits, with MOHRE. DET requires the labour cards to be cancelled for every legal form. MOHRE cancels a permit once any late fines are paid and the employee confirms receipt of their dues; it takes two working days.
2. Residence visas, with GDRFA. AED 120 per person, 48 hours, and it needs the MOHRE cancellation extract. The person then has a 60-day grace period in the UAE; see the grace period after visa cancellation.
3. The establishment card, with GDRFA. It can only be cancelled when nobody is sponsored on it any more.
4. The lease and utilities. Cancel the Ejari registration and close the utility accounts.
5. Cancel the trade licence with DET, with the documents for your legal form.
6. Dubai Chamber membership. Free, two hours, on a cancellation letter from DET.
7. VAT and corporate tax deregistration. The FTA asks for the licence cancellation certificate, the liquidation letter and a board resolution.

If the company holds a Dubai Customs code, it needs a customs clearance certificate, which takes at least 10 working days. Keep the company bank account open until the end: the Commercial Companies Law has the liquidator deposit collected money in the company’s account, and final tax payments or refunds need it.

VAT and corporate tax deregistration

A VAT registrant must apply for deregistration when it stops making taxable supplies. The VAT Executive Regulation sets the deadline at 20 business days from the event, although the FTA service card says 30, so work to 20. The FTA will not deregister a business until every return, including the final one, is filed and all tax and penalties are paid; the final return and payment are due within 28 days of the effective date of deregistration. A business that registered voluntarily cannot deregister within 12 months of registration.

Corporate tax deregistration is a separate application, due within three months of the date the company ceases business, is dissolved or liquidated, under FTA Decision No. 6 of 2023. It needs financial statements up to the licence cancellation date, and the FTA processes it within 40 working days. Late applications cost AED 1,000, then AED 1,000 on the same date each month, up to AED 10,000, for VAT and corporate tax alike. Both services are free. Our guides to VAT registration thresholds and deregistration and corporate tax returns cover the filings.

If you let the licence expire instead

An expired licence does not close a company. Dubai’s fees and fines resolution, still in force, lists AED 250 for failure to renew within the prescribed period and AED 200 a month for delay in renewing, with part of a month counted as a full month; it does not say how the two combine. Dubai Law No. 13 of 2011 exempts a business from renewal fees and fines where the licence expired and the business stopped trading, or where it applied to suspend the licence because it ceased activity. DET may also revoke a lapsed licence after a public notice with two weeks for objections, which does not end the owner’s obligations to third parties. The UAE Government Portal adds that a Dubai licence can be frozen for up to three years, not extendable, on payment of a fee it does not state. Under federal law the authority can suspend a dormant company after a three-month notice and delete it after three years, and the liability of its partners and managers continues.

None of the official sources read for this page describes an automatic immigration or labour ban on the owner for an expired licence. The practical blocks are real, though: MOHRE will not cancel work permits until late fines are paid, GDRFA will not cancel the establishment card while anyone is sponsored on it, and the FTA will not deregister a business with unfiled returns.

Free zone companies

A free zone company is closed by its own free zone authority, with its own fees and notice periods, not by DET. Examples of published fees:

A branch of a free zone company registered with the Ministry of Economy follows the DET procedure above.

What goes wrong

• Starting with the licence. DET cancels last, after the labour, visa and immigration files are closed.
• The company was abandoned, not closed. Fines accrue on an unrenewed licence and the partners stay liable.
• A creditor appears on day 40. A claim filed inside the 45 days must be settled before the file can close.
• Tax returns were never filed. The FTA refuses deregistration while any return is outstanding.
• Employee dues were not settled. MOHRE will not cancel a work permit without the employee’s confirmation of their dues.
• The bank account was closed too early. Final tax payments and the liquidator’s distributions need it.

If you are not closing but renewing, see Dubai trade licence renewal. For help with the closure itself, see company closure and liquidation services.