Georgia vs. Dubai 2026 — what changed for European entrepreneurs

Until 2023 Dubai was the unrivalled destination for tax-optimised European entrepreneurs. The 9% corporate tax and the running costs nobody advertises have shifted the picture. For many of our clients Georgia is now the rational pick — not the exotic one.

What actually changed

Dubai used to be the “zero-tax story” for European solopreneurs. The argument was simple: Mainland LLC or Free Zone, 0% on company profits, no income tax.

Since June 2023:

• 9% corporate tax on profits above AED 375,000 (≈ €95,000) for mainland companies
• 15% minimum tax for groups above €750M revenue (OECD Pillar Two)
• Free Zones formally stay at 0% — but with stricter substance requirements
• Corporate-tax registration and filing duties for every company, including free-zone companies that end up paying 0%

Side-by-side

Dubai 2026

• Corporate tax: 9% above €95k profit
• Running costs: €7,000–11,000 a year — licence, bookkeeping, visa, mandatory insurance
• Cost of living: €2,400–3,300/month (single, one-bedroom flat), €4,500 and up in the better districts
• Rent: €1,400–2,100 for the one-bedroom flat
• Visa: 2-year investor visa from USD 100k
• Banking: Emirates NBD, ADCB. KYC increasingly strict for EU clients, minimum balance AED 25,000–50,000
• EU image: off the FATF list since February 2024 and off the EU list since August 2025 — German and Austrian banks still scrutinise Emirati structures harder than others

What the structure costs — at formation and every year after

The rate is the number people argue about. The bill, though, is decided by the item that comes back every year:

Item	Dubai (free zone)	Georgia
Formation, year 1 AED 16,000–45,000 by zone, with one visa. Mainland with a mandatory office: EUR 10,000–20,000	EUR 4,000–11,000	from EUR 1,200 as a sole trader, from EUR 1,890 as an LLC
Intermediary fee German-language agencies quote EUR 4,500–8,500 as the all-in price for year 1 in Dubai	EUR 750–2,000	included in the price
Licence renewal per year Georgia has no licence that would need renewing	around EUR 4,300, mainland around EUR 6,400	—
Bookkeeping and tax return	EUR 1,500–3,700	EUR 1,000–1,800
Recurring, all in, per year	EUR 7,000–11,000	EUR 1,000–1,800
Bank balance tied up not a cost but locked liquidity — EUR 6,250–12,500	AED 25,000–50,000	no requirement
Three years together year 1 plus two following years, excluding cost of living	EUR 18,000–33,000	EUR 3,200–5,500

After three years the Dubai bill stands at two to five times the advertised formation price. The full breakdown with Cyprus as a third jurisdiction: what a jurisdiction really costs.

Who benefits from switching

Dubai was never the right choice for everyone — those who picked it on tax arithmetic alone learned in 2023/24 that the glamour cost-of-living ate the tax savings.

From the field

Switching from a DMCC Free Zone to Tbilisi paid back in 7 months — purely through lower rent. The tax savings are on top. The only downside: less spectacular Insta stories.

Verdict

The question is no longer “Dubai or Georgia” — it’s “how fast do you switch if your business model is purely digital”. Anyone forming a Dubai mainland LLC in 2026 for digital services aimed at German clients is paying 9% instead of 1% — at a multiple of the running costs, a higher cost of living and stricter bank scrutiny.