RAKEZ company bookkeeping and audit questions, answered

RAKEZ’s free zone licence renewal checklist lists signed renewal forms, valid passport copies of shareholders, directors and managers, a renewed lease where applicable, NOCs from regulators where relevant, and documents for corporate shareholders. An audited report or audited financials appear on the checklist only for industrial licences.

That makes RAKEZ lighter at renewal than zones such as IFZA, for non-industrial licensees. Lighter at renewal is not the same as no accounting obligation. Corporate tax, VAT, banks and any buyer doing due diligence will all want proper books.

A factory carries stock, machinery, work in progress and often a loan. Its audit takes longer than a service company’s. RAKEZ publishes a list of approved auditors licensed to prepare audited financial statements for RAKEZ entities, so check that your chosen firm is on it.

Worked example: a plastics moulding factory with AED 14 million of revenue, AED 2.1 million of raw material and finished goods stock, and AED 6.5 million of machinery. The auditor will want a year-end stock count with sheets signed by the counters, a fixed asset register that ties to the ledger, and depreciation worked out per asset. Building that register in the books during the year, not in a spreadsheet at year end, saves days of audit time.

VAT follows the federal rules wherever the company is licensed. Register when taxable supplies pass AED 375,000; you may register from AED 187,500. A RAKEZ company exporting to customers outside the GCC zero-rates those exports, and the Ministry of Finance lists exports of goods and services outside the GCC as zero-rated. Keep export evidence, such as bills of lading and customs exit documents, attached to each invoice.

A factory importing resin from abroad accounts for import VAT and, if it is registered, generally recovers it on the same return. That keeps cash flow neutral when the paperwork is right and painful when it is not.

A RAKEZ company registers for corporate tax and decides with its tax agent whether it is a qualifying free zone person. If it is, qualifying income is taxed at 0% and other income at 9%; if not, the standard 0% up to AED 375,000 and 9% above applies. A QFZP needs audited financial statements for tax purposes, even if RAKEZ does not ask for them at renewal.

Returns are due within nine months of the end of the tax period, and records are kept for seven years.

Small RAKEZ companies with revenue of AED 3 million or less that are not seeking QFZP status may be able to elect small business relief, which now runs to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029. A company cannot have both: QFZPs are excluded from the relief. For a start-up consultancy earning AED 900,000, that choice is worth working through with a tax agent before the first return.

Whatever the licence type, the same monthly cycle keeps the books ready for any of these demands.

• Weekly bill capture and bank statement matching.
• Monthly stock reconciliation for trading and industrial licensees.
• Quarterly VAT return prepared from the ledger, reviewed, then filed on EmaraTax.
• Year-end close timed so an auditor, if needed, has two clear months.

HelloBooks tracks stock across warehouses with lot and batch detail on the Business plan, keeps multi-currency purchases with FX differences, and prepares the VAT 201 return from the ledger for you or your accountant to review and file. The AI agent reads Arabic and English supplier invoices and asks you before posting anything unusual.

If a factory needs a fixed asset register layout or stock count sheet tailored to its auditor, request it at hello@hellobooks.ai.