Masdar City Free ZoneSetup cost, licence types and visa rules
Abu Dhabi
Sustainability-focused Abu Dhabi free zone for clean energy, AI and life sciences.
Masdar City Free Zone sits in the sustainability-focused Masdar City development between Zayed International Airport and downtown Abu Dhabi, including the seven-building, roughly 50,000 square metre Masdar City Square. Its sector focus is research-heavy: clean and renewable energy, life sciences and biotechnology, artificial intelligence, agri-tech, space technology and autonomous mobility, with more than 2,500 companies on site. Facilities run from virtual desks and co-working through business centres to R&D space and build-to-suit buildings, and the Estidama-certified estate is a real differentiator for companies whose customers or investors care about a sustainability address. It publishes a starter package price openly, which is rare in Abu Dhabi. Licence categories are sold as package tiers rather than named licence types.
Visit Official Website"Not scored" means we found no evidence for that dimension, not that the zone scored zero. Compare zones against each other, not against 10.
How much does Masdar City Free Zone cost?
Masdar City Free Zone setup costs from AED 7,000, published by Masdar City Free Zone Authority, verified 19 August 2026.
Setup cost
AED 7,000
≈ $1,918 · €1,750
One-time formation cost, as published
Published by Masdar City Free Zone Authority, verified 19 August 2026.View the source page
USD and EUR figures are indicative conversions at AED 3.65/USD and AED 4.00/EUR. Only the AED figure is a published price.
What licence types does Masdar City Free Zone issue?
Masdar City Free Zone does not publish a named licence-type taxonomy. What it does publish about permitted activity is below.
Permitted activities
What office options does Masdar City Free Zone offer?
Masdar City Free Zone publishes 5 workspace options: Virtual desk, Business centre, Co-working, R&D facility, Build-to-suit facility. Masdar City Free Zone does not require a physical office, so a flexi-desk or virtual package is enough to hold the licence.
Published workspace options: Virtual desk, Business centre, Co-working, R&D facility, Build-to-suit facility. Important: a virtual address or flexi-desk satisfies the free zone's own licensing rule but is a separate question from the adequate-substance test that a Qualifying Free Zone Person must meet to claim the 0% Corporate Tax rate. What the published entry price covers, as stated by the source: Start-Lite package: AED 7,000 annual licensing fee including two business activities and one visa, designed for start-ups and single-shareholder companies; activities subject to approval.
Tax and compliance at Masdar City Free Zone
Masdar City Free Zone publishes no blanket audit obligation of its own. Separately, every free zone company in the UAE falls under Federal Decree-Law 47 of 2022: the 0% rate applies only to the qualifying income of a Qualifying Free Zone Person, and a QFZP must file audited accounts at any revenue under Ministerial Decision 84 of 2025. Non-qualifying income is taxed at 9%.
- Regulatory authority
- Masdar City Free Zone Authority (MCFZ)
- Zone-level audit requirement
- Not published as a blanket requirement
Tax treatment the authority publishes
- 0% Corporate Tax on Qualifying Income for a Qualifying Free Zone Person (QFZP) - conditional, not automatic
- 9% Corporate Tax on any income that is not Qualifying Income; the AED 375,000 zero-rate band does not apply to a QFZP
- 0% personal income tax in the UAE
- 100% repatriation of capital and profits, with no UAE exchange controls
- QFZP status requires adequate free zone substance, arm's length pricing, transfer pricing documentation, audited accounts and non-qualifying revenue within the de minimis limit (lower of AED 5,000,000 or 5% of revenue)
- Small Business Relief is NOT available to a Qualifying Free Zone Person
Substance requirements
Federal position (applies to every UAE free zone): to claim the 0% Qualifying Free Zone Person rate a company must maintain adequate substance in the free zone - core income-generating activity carried out there, plus adequate assets, an adequate number of qualified full-time employees and adequate operating expenditure relative to that activity (Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2023, Art. 8). Under Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 every Qualifying Free Zone Person must prepare audited financial statements regardless of revenue; a free zone company that is not a QFZP needs audited accounts only where revenue exceeds AED 50,000,000. Economic Substance Regulations notifications and reports were cancelled for financial years ending after 31 December 2022 by Cabinet Decision No. 98 of 2024, so ESR is no longer a live annual filing. UBO disclosure under Cabinet Decision No. 109 of 2023 does still apply. Zone-level audit position: no primary source stating this zone's own audit requirement was retrievable during research. The audit_required flag is recorded as false because the field cannot express 'unknown'; do not read it as confirmation that no audit is required. The federal rules above apply in any case.
Customs treatment
This zone does not appear on the compiled VAT Designated Zone list and was not explicitly excluded from it, so its Designated Zone status is recorded as unknown rather than as 'no'. Goods held inside a customs-controlled free zone area are generally not subject to UAE customs duty until they enter the mainland, at which point 5% import VAT and any applicable duty arise. Verify Designated Zone status with the FTA before relying on it for goods movements.
Profit repatriation
The UAE imposes no exchange controls and no restrictions on repatriating capital or profits from a free zone company, and there is no personal income tax on distributions to individuals. Corporate Tax is assessed on the company, not on the remittance.
Ownership
100% foreign ownership is permitted. No UAE national shareholder, local sponsor or service agent is required.
- Minimum shareholders
- 1
- Local partner
- Not required
Why there is no banking section
We publish no per-zone bank lists, acceptance rates or account-opening timelines, here or anywhere else on the site. No bank and no regulator publishes that data by free zone. Account opening is a decision each bank makes on your shareholders and your activity — it is not a property of the zone you register in, and any site that scores it per zone is inventing a fact.
Who Masdar City Free Zone suits
Every line below is a restatement of something Masdar City Free Zone publishes, not a recommendation we were paid to make. We are not a reseller for any zone on this site, which is why the right-hand column exists at all.
Consider it if
- You want to hold a licence without leasing physical space — no physical presence is required.
- You want 100% foreign ownership with no local partner.
- Entry price is the deciding factor: the published setup cost is AED 7,000.
- You want a price you can check against the authority's own page before you commit.
Key benefits, as Masdar City Free Zone states them
These are the selling points the authority publishes about itself. We reproduce them; we do not endorse them.
Common questions about Masdar City Free Zone
How much does it cost to set up in Masdar City Free Zone?
Masdar City Free Zone setup costs from AED 7,000, published by Masdar City Free Zone Authority, verified 19 August 2026.
Can a foreign investor own 100% of a company in Masdar City Free Zone?
100% foreign ownership is permitted. No UAE national shareholder, local sponsor or service agent is required.
What tax treatment applies to a Masdar City Free Zone company?
Masdar City Free Zone publishes the following: 0% Corporate Tax on Qualifying Income for a Qualifying Free Zone Person (QFZP) - conditional, not automatic, 9% Corporate Tax on any income that is not Qualifying Income; the AED 375,000 zero-rate band does not apply to a QFZP, 0% personal income tax in the UAE, 100% repatriation of capital and profits, with no UAE exchange controls, QFZP status requires adequate free zone substance, arm's length pricing, transfer pricing documentation, audited accounts and non-qualifying revenue within the de minimis limit (lower of AED 5,000,000 or 5% of revenue) and Small Business Relief is NOT available to a Qualifying Free Zone Person. The 0% federal rate applies only to the qualifying income of a Qualifying Free Zone Person; other income is taxed at 9%.
Where is Masdar City Free Zone located?
Masdar City Free Zone is a free zone in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Compare Masdar City Free Zone against
- KEZAD - Khalifa Economic Zones Abu DhabiAlso in Abu Dhabi · AED 1,000
- Khalifa Port Free Trade ZoneAlso in Abu Dhabi · AED 1,000
- ADAFZ - Abu Dhabi Airports Free ZoneAlso in Abu Dhabi · Not published
- d3 - Dubai Design DistrictSimilar published setup cost · AED 7,500 – AED 7,520
- DAFZA - Dubai Airport FreezoneSimilar published setup cost · AED 7,500
Guides that cover Abu Dhabi and this zone's situation
- 0% Free Zone Corporate Tax: The Eight QFZP Conditions as a Checklist
Free zone 0% corporate tax has eight conditions, and all must be met. The full checklist, including the audit rule with no revenue threshold.
- Ministerial Decision 229 of 2025: Qualifying Activities, and Why MD 265 Content Is Stale
Ministerial Decision 229 of 2025 repealed MD 265 of 2023 retroactively from June 2023. The current qualifying activities list and what expanded.
- The QFZP De Minimis Rule, With a Worked Example (5% or AED 5m)
Non-qualifying revenue must stay under the lower of AED 5m or 5% of total revenue. Two worked examples and what happens if you breach it.
Cost data for Masdar City Free Zone was last checked against Masdar City Free Zone Authority's own site on 19 August 2026. Figures are reproduced in the currency the authority publishes them in, and are never converted, averaged or estimated. We do not charge to be listed, to be listed accurately, or to be ranked. If something here is wrong or out of date, send us the page that says so and we will correct it and re-date the record.