Setting Up a Gold Trading Company in Dubai as a Foreign Trader

Describe in one sentence each what the company will buy, sell or hold. The answer usually falls into one of four groups, and each has different counterparties and different paperwork.

A bullion trader buys and sells bars or coins in bulk, normally to other businesses. The risks are origin, settlement, insurance and where the stock sits between purchase and sale.

A jewellery importer or distributor deals in finished goods. The margin is in design, labour and brand rather than the metal price, and the customer base may include retail shops. Customs treatment, hallmarking and stock valuation matter more here than the daily rate.

A broker or introducer earns commission for connecting buyers and sellers without owning the metal. This looks lighter, and it is, but the Ministry of Economy and Tourism's goAML page lists intermediate buyers and brokers of precious metals among the dealers that must register. A bank will still want to see the contracts, the commission flows and how the broker verifies the parties.

Anything that offers customers a return linked to the gold price, lets several investors own a share of a bar, or involves borrowed money or derivatives is a different category. The SCA's public pages describe its oversight of capital market institutions, investment funds and market conduct. A trader considering a gold-linked product for outside investors should ask that question early and in writing, not discover it after incorporation.

A gold dealer is a designated non-financial business or profession (DNFBP) under UAE anti-money laundering rules. The Ministry of Economy and Tourism's goAML page counts producers, intermediate buyers and brokers, cutters and polishers, refiners and jewellery manufacturers dealing in precious metals among them. Registration on the goAML portal is mandatory, and the Ministry warns that failure to register may bring severe penalties. The duty to have suspicious-transaction reporting procedures comes from Federal Decree Law No (20) of 2018 and Article 20(2) of Cabinet Decision No (10) of 2019. Read the thresholds and reporting duties in the Ministry's guidance before the first large cash sale, not after it.

In practice, this means writing three documents before the first deal: a customer due diligence procedure, a screening procedure for sanctions and sourcing, and a record-keeping rule. Register on goAML once the trade licence is issued, because the application needs a copy of it, an authorisation letter from the company, and a copy of the registering person's passport, resident visa and Emirates ID. The registrant gets a username through the SACM security system and a changing password from the Google Authenticator app. Appoint a compliance officer who understands the trade, not just the paperwork. If the owner is abroad, the compliance officer is often the person the authorities and the bank will deal with day to day.

Dubai mainland through DET, a free zone, or a specialist commodities zone such as DMCC can each house a gold trader. A free-zone licence does not by itself authorise mainland business: reaching Dubai customers needs a distributor, a branch, a separate licence or an applicable DET permit. DMCC itself says the Ministry of Economy regulates the gold sector at federal level, so a zone licence does not replace that oversight. A company selling to Dubai retailers will generally want a different base from one that buys in Africa and sells in Asia without the metal ever entering local commerce. The comparison of mainland and free-zone setup sets out the questions that separate the two.

If the business will sell to the public from a shop front, expect premises requirements that a wholesale company can avoid. A mainland company needs a physical workspace of at least 100 sq ft, and virtual offices are not allowed for mainland companies. If it handles stock, storage and insurance arrangements need to exist before the licence is useful; DMCC, for example, lists its Vault in Almas Tower, owned by DMCC and operated by Brink's, as insured storage. The guide to gold and precious metals trading covers that sector in more depth, and the commodities trading guide applies if gold is one of several traded goods.

Physical trade means customs documentation, transport and storage. A forwarder or customs broker is part of the structure, not an afterthought, because origin documents, invoices and transport records must match. If the company imports regularly, work out in advance who is the importer of record and who bears the risk in transit. The freight forwarder and customs broker guide explains the roles.

Insurance deserves a line of its own. Metal in transit and in storage is usually insured separately from the company's general cover, and insurers will ask for the same origin and customer information the bank does.

A UAE company that trades is likely to fall within the Federal Tax Authority's Corporate Tax and VAT regimes. The FTA's site currently publishes filing deadlines for both, including a 30 September 2026 deadline for Corporate Tax returns and payment for the financial year that ended on 31 December 2025, and a 28 October 2026 final date for a VAT return. Those dates apply to companies already registered; a new company should confirm its own registration and period with the FTA. Gold has its own VAT rule. Under Cabinet Decision No. 127 of 2024, effective from 26 February 2025, a VAT-registered buyer who will resell the goods or use them in manufacturing accounts for the VAT instead of the supplier. The buyer must give the supplier written declarations of that intent and of its registration before the supply, and the supplier must verify the registration. The rule covers gold, silver, palladium and platinum, and jewellery in which the metals and stones outweigh the other components in value. It does not apply to supplies that are zero-rated, so confirm the treatment of each product line with a tax adviser.

Velarozone's order for gold traders, set out in how Velarozone works, is activity description first, then entity, then banking, then the filings, because the licence wording feeds the goAML registration, the VAT treatment and the bank file. Founders who will live in Dubai should plan residence visas for the founding team once the activity is fixed, because at DMCC the quota follows the office: up to 3 visas on a flexi desk and 1 visa for every 9 square metres of physical space.