Dubai Outsource City (DOC)Free zone tax status and compliance
Dubai
Dubai Development Authority
The Verdict
The Shared Services Hub; Focused on Article 34 'Arm’s Length' Benchmarking.
I. Statutory Basis
As a Qualifying Free Zone Person, this jurisdiction requires strict adherence toCore Income-Generating Activities.Article 18 QFZP status requires services be delivered 'from' the zone. Compliance focuses on 'Headquarter Services' and 'Treasury/Financing' as primary Qualifying Activities, necessitating localized CIGA documentation.
Compliance Roadmap
Article 34 Defense File: Implementing a robust Transfer Pricing Local File for all shared services provided to mainland affiliates
Service Source Logging: Forensic time-logging of employee hours to prove that the 'Core Income-Generating Activity' is performed physically from the DOC office
Remote-Access Audit: Monitoring VPN and digital logs to ensure that 'Main Management' is not inadvertently occurring from mainland home-offices
Audit Hotspots
Supporting mainland affiliates without contemporaneously documented Transfer Pricing (Art. 34) benchmarks
Treating 'B2C' call center support for mainland individuals as Qualifying Income (0%)
Inadequate physical CIGA (staff count) to justify the volume of shared services reported in the tax return
Jurisdictional Connectivity
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