Some Dubai businesses get up to 50% off renewal fees

Some businesses in Dubai are seeing drops in trade licence renewal costs, with savings reaching up to 50 per cent in some cases, Khaleej Times has learnt. The lower costs are also prompting many firms to renew their licences a few months in advance.

Industry operators said that the trend has picked up pace in recent days. “We are seeing more businesses coming in early to renew their licences,” Mohammed Dawood Shahabudeen from Seven City Document Clearing said. “Even companies whose licences are due to expire in the next four to six months are choosing to renew now.”

The licence copies reviewed by Khaleej Times, show a drop in total payable amounts compared to previous renewals. In one case, a business paid Dh21,683 for renewal compared to Dh37,583 earlier, a reduction of over 40 per cent. In another, costs fell from Dh12,370 to Dh8,190.

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The savings are not coming from a single discount. Instead, they appear to be the result of reductions across multiple fee components that together make up the total renewal cost.

This comes after Dubai announced a Dh1-billion economic support package aimed at easing the burden on businesses. The package includes the deferral of several government-related fees for three months, including those linked to trade licences.

Mohammed Masiuddeen of Superjet Group, which operates typing and document clearing centres, said a licence typically includes charges from several departments. “There are fees from various givernment entities for different licences. What we are seeing now is that some of these charges are reduced or not applied, which brings the overall cost down significantly,” he said.

Firooskhan CM from Arabian Business Centre said certain fee components that usually add to renewal costs are not appearing in many recent cases. “Charges such as labour fees, foreign name fees and some public waste-related fees have been reduced or removed in several renewals,” he said.

These fee components closely match the categories included in the government’s support package, which covers areas such as accommodation, waste management and service-related charges.

Firosekhan added that companies with more number of employees are seeing higher overall savings, as many of these charges are linked to employee numbers.

Consultants said the reductions are not uniform and depend on the nature of the business, licence structure and activity. However, the effect of lower or waived charges across different departments is leading to noticeable overall savings for many firms. In some cases, industry sources said that the total reduction can go even higher depending on how a licence is structured.

Similar relief measures have also been rolled out in other parts of Dubai. In Dubai South, authorities have announced rent-free incentives, payment deferments and other support for small and medium enterprises.

For many companies, the current situation has created a sense of urgency. Renewing early is now being seen as a way to get lower costs rather than waiting until closer to expiry.