ESR & UBOCompliancein the UAE
Ultimate Beneficial Owner registers and Economic Substance obligations — kept clean, current and penalty-free .
Two compliance regimes cause quiet trouble for UAE companies: UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owner) rules, which require every company to declare and maintain a register of the real people who own or control it, and ESR (Economic Substance Regulations), which historically required companies with certain activities to demonstrate real substance in the UAE. Authorities check both — at incorporation, at renewal, and when banks run compliance reviews. TFZ keeps your registers accurate, your filings current, and your historic positions clean.
Declaring Who Really Owns the Company
Under UAE UBO rules, companies must identify their ultimate beneficial owners — generally the individuals who ultimately own or control 25% or more of the company — maintain a UBO register, and file it with their licensing authority. It must be updated whenever ownership changes. Sounds simple; in practice, layered structures, nominee arrangements and holding companies make it easy to get wrong — and wrong declarations carry fines.
UBO analysis
We trace your ownership chain and determine the correct beneficial owners under the rules.
Register preparation & filing
UBO, shareholder and nominee director registers prepared and submitted to your authority.
Change management
Share transfers, new investors or restructures reflected in your registers on time.
Bank compliance support
Clean UBO documentation that answers bank KYC reviews quickly.
Where Things Stand Now
Economic Substance Regulations required UAE companies carrying on “relevant activities” (like holding company, distribution, or headquarters activities) to file notifications and reports proving real substance. With the arrival of corporate tax, ESR filing obligations were removed for financial years ending after 2022 — but that is not the end of the story. Companies may still face open questions for earlier periods: missed notifications, unfiled reports and unresolved penalties from those years don't disappear on their own.
Status review
we confirm what (if anything) your company still owes for historic ESR periods
Historic filings & penalty resolution
outstanding notifications and reports handled, and penalty positions addressed
Substance advisory going forward
substance still matters under corporate tax, especially for free zone companies claiming 0%; we align it with your Qualifying Free Zone Person position
Frequently asked questions
One Check. Full Peace of Mind.
Send us your license and ownership details — we'll confirm your UBO and ESR position and fix anything outstanding on a fixed fee.