News and publications

Dear Friends and Clients, As the year comes to it’s end the UAE rulers/government have some presents for us investors: The almost unthinkable could become reality: The 51:49 rule seems to be in discussion and maybe – for some activities –eliminated. Of course, this rule has been weakened by several options, like onshore branches of

Whether “Oktoberfest”, “Heurigen”, dinner parties, Christmas parties or the almost obligatory Friday brunch – especially autumn and winter offers numerous opportunities for expats to drink a glass (or more) in the UAE. But what about possible (legal) consequences if alcohol is consumed either too much or in the wrong places? Old-established expats would answer that

Dear Friends and Clients, Is it true that the main reason for the obstacles to open a bank account in the UAE is due to the influence of the USA? Does the UAE Central bank receive “instructions” from our great (former: big) brother? Maybe that is the reason: “US debt exceeds 20 trillion for first time in history

Account opening within 10 min for people, (free zone) companies and offshore companies without much trouble, customer-friendly and excellent solution-oriented service – wishful thinking! What may sound like an unbelievable fairy tale to expats, who are currently trying to open a bank account in the UAE for their UAE company, was indeed a pleasant everyday

Dear Friends and Clients, Of course, this newsletter concentrates on the new VAT to be enforced on Jan. 1, 2018. There are 100+ seminars on VAT and almost every consultant’s newsletter is dealing with this tax. For Europeans, there are not really any problems with understanding the VAT system. However, as I also found out

By 1 January 2018 at the latest, the dream of many financial authorities in most countries of the world will come true: they will automatically and without any action on their part, receive information about their citizens and companies that have bank accounts abroad. It is admirable how few (German-speaking) clients react to this innovation.

Whether sports clubs, music clubs, carnival clubs or other clubs – in Central Europe a large proportion of the population is a member of one or more clubs. What many expats in the UAE do not know, however, is that association law, as we know it from Central Europe, hardly existed in the UAE up

Dear Friends and Clients, As summer approached in the northern hemisphere it is interesting to see how few reactions were made by clients who have their bank accounts abroad, despite an automatic exchange of financial information coming on stream as the ‘early adopters’ of the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard begin to exchange this year. The

Dear Friends and Clients, Ramadan and Eid al Fitr are over; the summer months are ahead. The business has already slowed down these past few weeks and probably won’t improve until September. But this is not bad news. Most of the decision makers will be on holiday in cooler parts of the world. I will

Dear Friends and Clients, Ramadan is at the doorstep. In the Surah Al-Baqarah [2:185] – Al-Qur’an al-Kareem – it reads that the Holy Scripture was revealed in the month of Ramadan. All our non – Muslim friends should be aware of the strict rules and customs during this month and should mainly refrain from disregarding these