Licence cancellation & de-registration
Formally cancelling your trade licence and de-registering the company with your mainland or free-zone authority.
Corporate Compliance
Company liquidation & licence cancellation in the UAE
Closing a company is as regulated as opening one — and skipping a step is expensive. We handle the full exit: cancelling your trade licence, liquidating where required, cancelling visas and the establishment card, de-registering for VAT and Corporate Tax, and clearing every liability, so your company closes clean with no lingering fines, blacklist or director bans — at a fixed fee agreed before we start.
Clean exit
No lingering fines or bans
Mainland
& every free zone
Visas first
Cancelled before the licence
Fixed fee
Agreed before we start
What it means
What closing a UAE company involves
Cancelling a licence isn't just letting it expire. To close a UAE company properly you have to formally de-register it with the authority that issued the licence — so the business legally ceases to exist and stops accruing obligations.
For most mainland LLCs that means liquidation: passing a shareholders' resolution to dissolve, appointing a registered liquidator, publishing a newspaper notice to creditors, and issuing a liquidator's report after the notice period. Free zones run their own de-registration process, but the principle is the same.
Before the licence can go, the people and accounts attached to it must be unwound — every residence visa and the establishment card cancelled, VAT and Corporate Tax de-registered with the FTA, and utilities, telecom and the corporate bank account closed.
Ignore it and a dormant company keeps generating renewal fines — and an abandoned licence can lead to blacklisting and director bans that follow the shareholders to their next venture. We run the whole sequence in the right order so you exit cleanly and completely.
What we handle
What a closure covers
One team runs the full exit in the right sequence — unwinding the people and accounts first, then cancelling the licence itself and collecting every clearance and certificate.
Company liquidation
Appointing a registered liquidator, preparing the liquidation accounts and issuing the liquidator's report for mainland companies.
Visa & establishment-card cancellation
Cancelling every residence visa, work permit and the establishment card — the step that has to come before the licence.
VAT & Corporate Tax de-registration
De-registering the company for VAT and Corporate Tax with the FTA, and filing the final returns that close the file.
Clearances & settlements
Obtaining immigration, labour and utility clearances and settling every outstanding fee, fine and liability.
Bank account closure
Closing the corporate bank account cleanly once liabilities are settled, and retrieving any remaining balance to the shareholders.
What's involved
What a closure needs
The exact steps depend on your legal form, authority and whether you're mainland or free zone — but these are the essentials we prepare, file and collect on your behalf.
Shareholders' resolution to close
A resolution to dissolve the company and, for an LLC, to appoint the liquidator — notarised where required.
Appointed liquidator (mainland LLC)
A registered auditor or liquidator formally appointed to oversee and certify the winding-up.
Liquidator's report & accounts
Closing statement of accounts and the liquidator's report confirming there are no outstanding liabilities.
Cancelled visas & establishment card
All residence visas and the company establishment/immigration card cancelled before the licence is closed.
Newspaper notice & notice period
A public notice to creditors, followed by the mandated waiting period before de-registration completes.
FTA VAT & Corporate Tax de-registration
Final VAT and Corporate Tax returns filed and the registrations formally closed with the FTA.
Cleared fees, fines & utilities
All government fees, penalties, rent, telecom and utility accounts settled and closed.
Authority & immigration clearances
No-liability clearances from immigration, labour and the relevant authorities before the final cancellation certificate.
The signals
When you need closure support
Closing a company is usually a considered decision — but a dormant licence quietly running up fines is just as common a reason to act. If any of these apply, it's time to close it properly.
You've stopped trading
The business has wound down and you want it closed properly — not left dormant to accumulate renewal fees and fines.
You're consolidating entities
A group restructure means merging or retiring companies, and the surplus licences need to be cancelled cleanly.
Fines are piling up
An unused licence is quietly racking up penalties, and you need it closed before the amounts — or a ban — grow.
Partners are exiting
Shareholders are going separate ways and the cleanest outcome is to wind the company up rather than transfer it.
You're changing structure
Moving to a different legal form, emirate or free zone, and the existing entity needs to be closed as part of the switch.
You want a clean record
You need certainty that the entity is fully closed — no loose ends that could block a future licence, visa or venture.
How we help
A complete closure, in five clear steps
One team runs the whole exit in the correct order — people and accounts first, then the licence itself — with a fixed fee agreed up front and a clear view of which step you're on.
1
Week 1
Review & plan
We assess the company, its licences, visas, tax status and liabilities, map the full closure path, and quote a fixed fee.
2
Week 1–2
Resolution & liquidator
We draft the dissolution resolution, appoint the liquidator where required, and publish the creditor notice.
3
Week 2–4
Visas, tax & clearances
We cancel visas and the establishment card, de-register VAT and Corporate Tax, and settle fees and utilities.
4
Notice period
Liquidator's report
After the mandated notice period, we finalise the liquidator's report and gather every clearance the authority needs.
5
Final
De-registration & certificate
We file the final cancellation, close the bank account, and hand you the official licence-cancellation certificate.
Get started
Get a fixed quote to close your company.
Tell us about the company — its authority, whether it has visas or tax registrations, and why you're closing — and we'll reply within one business day with a clear closure plan and an all-inclusive price.
Thank you — we've got your details.
One of our closure advisors will be in touch within one business day.
One of our closure advisors will be in touch within one business day.