Two amounts, not one
Every government transaction costs a company two amounts, different in kind:
- A government fee set by the authority and collected for its own account. Nobody has any discretion over it and there is nothing to negotiate.
- An office charge for carrying the procedure: the review, the filing, the follow-up and the delivery.
Combining them in one line conceals the office's margin, and makes an offer that looks cheaper more expensive in fact. Al Qabas separates them on every invoice.
Government fees
The office settles government fees on the company's behalf at the time of filing, then invoices them at the value prescribed by the relevant authority. The official receipt is issued in the company's name, so it remains a valid accounting document in its books.
The formation fees are published item by item, with their total, on the formation packages page, each item under the authority that sets it. They are prescribed by those authorities and may change by their decision.
Government fees vary by transaction and by authority, and their value is verified at the time of filing because they are updated. They include the monthly work permit fee, registration and renewal fees for the commercial register, and residency and identity card fees.
Our charges
On the administration side, Al Qabas works on a fixed monthly subscription rather than a charge per transaction. The tier is set by the company's headcount, and the subscription covers the recurring transactions within the scope of the package, so the subscription does not change with the volume of filings in a given month.
Expertise work, such as ceiling increases, violation removal, liquidation and changes of legal form, sits outside the subscription and is quoted in writing after the case has been studied. Formation packages carry published prices, each according to what it covers.
Value added tax
Our charges are a service subject to value added tax, and the prices published on this site include it. The figure you see is the final figure.
Government fees are not subject to the tax, because they are amounts the authority collects for its own account rather than a service rendered by the office. Anyone adding tax to a government fee has added something that is not prescribed.
How to check your invoice
- The government fee should sit on a line separate from the office's charge.
- The official receipt should be attached and issued in your company's name.
- No value added tax should be added to the government fee line.
- The office's charge should match what is published, or what the written quotation stated.
This guide is a general account of how charges are made up. The value of any government fee rests with the authority concerned and is verified at the time of filing, because it is subject to update.