Akash Chetwani, CFA
IRAA Insights contributor
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Author profile

Akash
Chetwani, CFA

Senior Partner · Advisory

Cross-border advisory for professionals, founders, investors, and globally connected families.

42
Published perspectives
06
Subject areas
IRAA
Global contributor

Areas of expertise

AdvisoryCorporate TaxTaxationLive, Work & Invest in DubaiVisas & EntryTransfer Pricing

Written by Akash

Latest perspectives

Analysis at the intersection of regulation, strategy, finance, and cross-border execution.

UAE Corporate Tax in 2026: A Practical Readiness Playbook for Growing Businesses01 UAE Corporate Tax in 2026: A Practical Readiness Playbook for Growing Businesses

A filing deadline is only the final checkpoint. Reliable corporate tax compliance begins with clear ownership, reconciled financial data and evidence that supports every material position.

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Live, work and invest in Dubai: a practical starting point02 Live, work and invest in Dubai: a practical starting point

A connected guide to residency, careers, banking, property, mobility, education, wellness, and everyday life.

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Visas and entry: choose the right Dubai pathway03 Visas and entry: choose the right Dubai pathway

Entry permission, residence status and Emirates ID are connected but different decisions. Start with why you are coming, how long you intend to stay and who—if anyone—will sponsor you.

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Getting a job in Dubai: from search to a verified offer04 Getting a job in Dubai: from search to a verified offer

A credible Dubai career plan combines market positioning with careful offer verification, contract review, work-permit compliance and a realistic view of total compensation.

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Opening a personal bank account in Dubai05 Opening a personal bank account in Dubai

Account opening is a regulated customer-due-diligence process. The strongest application is complete, consistent and clear about identity, residence, income and expected account use.

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Working remotely from Dubai: residence is only one layer06 Working remotely from Dubai: residence is only one layer

Dubai's virtual-work residence can provide an eligible overseas professional with a one-year base, but immigration approval does not settle employment, corporate or tax questions.

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Related-Party Transactions: What Your UAE Transfer Pricing File Must Prove07 Related-Party Transactions: What Your UAE Transfer Pricing File Must Prove

A defensible transfer pricing file must connect legal agreements, operational conduct, financial results and the arm's-length outcome into one consistent business story.

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What founders still underestimate about UAE corporate tax readiness08 What founders still underestimate about UAE corporate tax readiness

Why defensible tax positions begin with operating discipline.

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The UAE VAT Health Check: Questions to Answer Before an FTA Audit09 The UAE VAT Health Check: Questions to Answer Before an FTA Audit

The strongest VAT audit response begins before an audit notice: with complete transaction data, traceable invoices, disciplined reconciliations and timely correction of identified errors.

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Free Zone Corporate Tax: Qualifying Income, Substance and Documentation Explained10 Free Zone Corporate Tax: Qualifying Income, Substance and Documentation Explained

A free zone licence does not by itself secure the zero-percent rate. The result depends on qualifying status, qualifying income, substance, transfer pricing and evidence maintained throughout the period.

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Tax Group or Separate Registration? Choosing the Right Structure for UAE Companies11 Tax Group or Separate Registration? Choosing the Right Structure for UAE Companies

Corporate tax grouping can simplify a qualifying UAE group's tax position, but it also centralises responsibility, combines risk and creates consequences that should be modelled before an application is made.

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UAE AML Compliance in 2026: A Board-Level Operating Framework for DNFBPs12 UAE AML Compliance in 2026: A Board-Level Operating Framework for DNFBPs

The UAE's updated AML framework expects risk ownership, independent compliance judgment and evidence that controls work in practice—not a policy file that is opened only before an inspection.

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UAE Beneficial Ownership Rules: What Companies Must Record, Update and Prove13 UAE Beneficial Ownership Rules: What Companies Must Record, Update and Prove

A shareholder register is not always a beneficial ownership analysis. UAE companies must look through ownership chains, voting rights and other control to identify the natural persons behind the structure.

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VAT health checks: the questions to ask before an audit14 VAT health checks: the questions to ask before an audit

A practical review of records, reconciliations, and transaction treatment.

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UAE Data Protection for Businesses: Consent, Vendors, Breaches and Cross-Border Processing15 UAE Data Protection for Businesses: Consent, Vendors, Breaches and Cross-Border Processing

Data protection is an operating model for how personal information is collected, used, shared, secured and deleted. Contracts and privacy notices matter, but systems and daily decisions must support them.

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Targeted Financial Sanctions in the UAE: Screening, Freezing and Reporting Without Delay16 Targeted Financial Sanctions in the UAE: Screening, Freezing and Reporting Without Delay

Sanctions compliance is time-critical. UAE businesses need reliable list updates, ownership-aware screening and an escalation route that can distinguish a potential match from a confirmed match without tipping off a customer.

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Directors and Managers in UAE Companies: Duties, Conflicts and Control Evidence17 Directors and Managers in UAE Companies: Duties, Conflicts and Control Evidence

Authority should be matched by evidence of care: clear delegations, disclosed conflicts, reliable minutes and decisions supported by information available at the time.

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The UAE Month-End Close: A 10-Day Finance Operating Model for Growing Companies18 The UAE Month-End Close: A 10-Day Finance Operating Model for Growing Companies

A controlled ten-day close gives management reliable numbers while decisions are still timely, and creates the evidence needed for tax, audit and financing.

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Related-party documentation should tell one clear story19 Related-party documentation should tell one clear story

Connecting contracts, conduct, pricing logic, and financial evidence.

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Audited Financial Statements in the UAE: Requirements, Readiness and Evidence20 Audited Financial Statements in the UAE: Requirements, Readiness and Evidence

Current corporate-tax audit triggers are only one part of the obligation analysis. Audit readiness begins with reconciled balances, documented policies and evidence built throughout the year.

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Cash Flow Forecasting for UAE Businesses: A 13-Week Model Management Can Trust21 Cash Flow Forecasting for UAE Businesses: A 13-Week Model Management Can Trust

A rolling thirteen-week model converts collections, commitments and working-capital risks into decisions before liquidity becomes urgent.

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Finance Controls Before Funding: What Investors and Lenders Expect from the Numbers22 Finance Controls Before Funding: What Investors and Lenders Expect from the Numbers

Capital providers test whether growth, earnings, cash and forecasts can be traced to reliable records. Strong finance controls make that evidence available before diligence begins.

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IFRS 9 for Trade Receivables: Expected Credit Losses Without False Precision23 IFRS 9 for Trade Receivables: Expected Credit Losses Without False Precision

A defensible expected-credit-loss model combines clean receivable data, evidence-based segmentation, historical experience and reasonable forward-looking information.

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Free-zone status does not remove the need for substance24 Free-zone status does not remove the need for substance

Qualifying income requires more than incorporation in the right place.

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UAE Mainland or Free Zone? A Company-Structure Decision Built Around Operations25 UAE Mainland or Free Zone? A Company-Structure Decision Built Around Operations

The right UAE structure follows customers, activities, people, premises, tax and ownership—not the cheapest incorporation package.

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UAE Business Licensing: Align Activities, Approvals, Contracts and Revenue26 UAE Business Licensing: Align Activities, Approvals, Contracts and Revenue

A disciplined licensing control keeps commercial activity, sector approvals, invoices and the legal permission to operate aligned as the company grows.

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Building a UAE Market-Entry Budget: Capital, Tax, Banking and Working Capital27 Building a UAE Market-Entry Budget: Capital, Tax, Banking and Working Capital

A decision-ready entry budget funds the path from incorporation to collected revenue and tests what happens when licensing, banking or customers take longer.

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Governance for UAE Founder-Led Companies: Authority, Reserved Matters and Board Reporting28 Governance for UAE Founder-Led Companies: Authority, Reserved Matters and Board Reporting

Scalable governance preserves founder speed by making authority, conflicts, information and accountability visible before the company outgrows individual memory.

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Buying a UAE Business: A Financial, Tax, Legal and Operational Due-Diligence Framework29 Buying a UAE Business: A Financial, Tax, Legal and Operational Due-Diligence Framework

Effective diligence converts historical exposures into a transaction decision, price protection and a practical 100-day integration plan.

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UAE AI Governance for Boards: From Pilot to Accountable Deployment30 UAE AI Governance for Boards: From Pilot to Accountable Deployment

A practical governance model helps UAE boards scale valuable AI while preserving accountability, evidence, human oversight and control through the system lifecycle.

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Cross-border expansion: tax questions before market entry31 Cross-border expansion: tax questions before market entry

The early choices that shape cost, compliance, and flexibility.

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AI and Personal Data in the UAE: Lawful Design, Vendors and Automated Decisions32 AI and Personal Data in the UAE: Lawful Design, Vendors and Automated Decisions

UAE businesses need to map AI data flows, establish lawful purpose, manage vendors and build meaningful review into automated decisions before deployment.

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Virtual Assets in Dubai: Licensing and Controls Before You Offer a Crypto Service33 Virtual Assets in Dubai: Licensing and Controls Before You Offer a Crypto Service

A credible Dubai virtual-asset business aligns its regulated activity, licence, custody, technology, financial-crime controls and customer communications before launch.

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UAE Cyber Resilience: A Board Operating Model for Third-Party and Ransomware Risk34 UAE Cyber Resilience: A Board Operating Model for Third-Party and Ransomware Risk

Boards can strengthen cyber resilience by governing critical services, identity, suppliers, recovery and incident decisions as one operating system.

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UAE eInvoicing 2026: A Technology and Data Readiness Plan for Business35 UAE eInvoicing 2026: A Technology and Data Readiness Plan for Business

UAE eInvoicing readiness requires structured master data, controlled ERP integration, an appropriate service provider and end-to-end business testing.

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UAE Economic Outlook 2026: Turning Headline Growth into Business Decisions36 UAE Economic Outlook 2026: Turning Headline Growth into Business Decisions

Strong UAE growth creates opportunity, but business plans still need sector evidence, cash-flow scenarios and clear management triggers.

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Financing Growth in the UAE: Cost of Capital, Working Capital and Cash Resilience37 Financing Growth in the UAE: Cost of Capital, Working Capital and Cash Resilience

A resilient funding plan connects debt, customer credit, cash conversion, covenant headroom and refinancing decisions.

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Foreign Direct Investment in the UAE: Building the Operating Case Behind the Capital38 Foreign Direct Investment in the UAE: Building the Operating Case Behind the Capital

Record FDI confirms international confidence, while durable investor returns still depend on customers, operating capability and disciplined capital deployment.

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Exporting from the UAE: Turning CEPA Market Access into Repeatable Growth39 Exporting from the UAE: Turning CEPA Market Access into Repeatable Growth

Preferential access creates opportunity, but successful exporters still need product eligibility, landed-cost discipline, partner control and finance.

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UAE IPO Readiness: Governance, Reporting and the Investor Case Before Listing40 UAE IPO Readiness: Governance, Reporting and the Investor Case Before Listing

IPO readiness begins before the transaction timetable, with a clear equity perimeter, reliable reporting, public-company governance and controlled disclosure.

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The gap between having UAE residency and proving a defensible cross-border position41 The gap between having UAE residency and proving a defensible cross-border position

UAE residency is stronger when supported by consistent evidence. Review seven practical steps for tax residency, treaty and India-UAE planning.

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Why entity setup decisions should be made with tax, banking, and operating reality in view42 Why entity setup decisions should be made with tax, banking, and operating reality in view

Entity setup in the UAE should align licensing, banking, tax and operating reality. Review seven decisions founders should make before formation.

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