Once a DIFC Prescribed Company is incorporated, there are two types of ongoing obligations:
Event-driven filings
Annual filings
Event Driven Filings
Changes to the company or its stakeholders trigger a filing with the Registrar — a change of director, an allotment of shares, a new residential address for a director. Most must be filed within 30 days to avoid late filing penalties, and depending on the change a board or shareholder resolution may be needed first. Service fees and DIFC filing fees apply to these filings.
Common changes include:
a Director or Shareholder changes their residential address;
a change in Director or Authorised Signatory appointments;
a change in shareholders or issued share capital following a share allotment or share transfer; and
an amendment to the Articles of Association or a change to name of the Company.
If you need to make changes to your DIFC Prescribed Company, you can complete our online scoping form so that we can advise you of the filing fees, process and requirements.
Annual Filings
Each year, there are a number of filings that a DIFC Prescribed Company must submit. Clara's annual renewal fee includes the following annual filings:
commercial licence renewal;
data protection renewal (if applicable);
annual return (confirming the details regarding directors, shareholders etc are correct); and
annual accounts.
The renewal fee also includes the use of our registered office address and our appointment as the Company Service Provider for the DIFC Prescribed Company for a further 12 months. The quoted renewal fee also includes the fees payable to DIFC for the renewal filings.
DIFC entities must maintain financial records and file financial accounts with DIFC. The requirement for these accounts to be audited will depend on the the company's revenue and size. Clara will support with filing the accounts. If support is required with account preparation, this can be provided through Clara's Group.
Before the renewal filings can be started, you will need to:
provide updated KYC for any expired documents that we have on file (this covers all shareholders, directors, authorised signatory and data protection contact),
confirm the data regarding the Company, including all its Stakeholders, is up to date, and
pay the renewal fee.
Late renewal fines apply for annual filings and therefore it is important to process renewals on time to avoid penalties.
Federal Tax Authority Updates
Please note that following changes to your company or the renewal of its commercial licence, filings are required to update the UAE Federal Tax Authority via your FTA portal account. This account is not managed by Clara. Please ensure you process the changes urgently to avoid the FTA issuing penalties for the late filing of updates.