Who we are
Sahla is the trade name of Sahla Group, a company incorporated in the United Arab Emirates with its registered office in Dubai. The group operates through five subsidiaries, each holding the licence required for its activity. The full structure, with the regulator of each entity, is set out in the legal notice.
Our trade licence number and our tax registration number are printed on every invoice we issue, and we send them on request before you order anything.
What these terms cover
These terms govern the use of sahla.ae and of everything ordered through it. They form the contract between you and the Sahla entity that delivers the service you bought.
Placing an order, paying an invoice or using an account means you accept them. If you order on behalf of a company, you confirm that you are allowed to bind it.
Where a service has its own signed engagement letter, for example an annual accounting mandate or an insurance brokerage mandate, that document prevails on any point where the two disagree.
Opening an account
You need an account to follow a file, to sign documents and to use the software. One person is responsible for the account, keeps the credentials, and answers for what is done with them.
You must give us an email address you actually read. Deadlines with the authorities are announced there, and a missed notification is not a defence against a penalty.
We may refuse or close an account where the identity cannot be verified, where the activity is one we are not allowed to serve, or where the account is used to file inaccurate information.
The services you can order
Through Sahla you can order:
- Company formation in the mainland and in the free zones, including the licence application, the establishment card and the residence visas that go with it.
- Accounting, corporate tax and VAT work, from bookkeeping to the filing itself.
- Invoicing software, including electronic invoicing once it becomes mandatory for your business.
- Stock and till connectors that feed your accounting from your point of sale.
- Insurance brokerage, where we place a policy for you with an insurer.
- Real estate services, which are governed by their own mandate and by the rules of the competent authority.
Each service is delivered by the group entity licensed for it. The invoice tells you which one.
Our fee, and the fees of the authorities
Two different things appear on your quote, and we never mix them.
| Line | What it is | How it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Sahla fee | What you pay us for the work | Fixed when you order, and it does not change afterwards |
| Official fees | What the authority, the free zone, the notary or the bank charges | Passed through at cost, with the receipt attached |
We take no margin on official fees. If an authority raises a fee between your quote and your filing, you pay the new amount and we show you the published tariff. If it lowers one, you pay less.
Some costs cannot be known in advance, a mainland Ejari lease being the usual example. They are quoted in writing and approved by you before they are incurred.
What changes a quote
A quote is built on what you told us about your activity, your shareholders and your visa needs. It changes when the facts change, and only then.
- You add a shareholder, a visa or an activity to the licence.
- The activity turns out to need an external approval we were not told about.
- The authority reclassifies your activity into a different fee band.
In each case we send a revised quote and wait for your approval before spending anything.
Payment and subscriptions
Company formation and one off services are payable before filing, because the authority is paid at the moment we file.
Software and accounting plans are subscriptions. Monthly plans renew every month and can be cancelled at any time from your account, with effect at the end of the period you already paid for. Annual plans are billed upfront for twelve months.
Card payments are processed by Stripe. We never see or store your card number. An unpaid invoice suspends the service after we have told you and given you time to fix it.
Refunds and cancellation
Our position on refunds is simple, and it does not depend on how the conversation goes.
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| You cancel before we file anything | Full refund of the Sahla fee and of any official fee not yet paid |
| You cancel after we filed | Official fees already paid to an authority are not recoverable. The Sahla fee is prorated on the work done |
| Your activity cannot be licensed as we quoted it | Full refund of the Sahla fee |
| A filing is refused on a point we should have caught | We redo it at our cost, or refund the Sahla fee if it cannot be saved |
| A filing is refused on the authority own assessment | We tell you why, and we tell you honestly whether a second attempt is worth it |
| A subscription you no longer want | Cancel any time. No refund of the period already started, no cancellation fee |
A bank refusing to open an account is not a refund event. No one controls that decision, and we say so before you order rather than after.
What we commit to
We file complete and accurate dossiers with the competent authority, within the deadlines we announce, and we tell you the moment something slips.
We do not control the decision of an authority, of a bank or of an insurer. We control the quality of what we submit, and that is what we answer for.
We answer on WhatsApp during our published hours, in English, French and Arabic. Where an answer needs a check with an authority, we say when we will come back rather than guessing on the spot.
What you commit to
You give us accurate identity documents and a truthful description of your activity. This is the one obligation on your side that really matters.
Filing on the basis of inaccurate information exposes you to penalties we cannot absorb, and can lead the authority to cancel a licence already granted. Where we discover that information was knowingly false, we stop the work and no fee is refunded.
You also keep your own documents. We hold a copy, but the original licence, the passports and the signed contracts stay yours.
Deadlines and filings
For tax and accounting work, the deadline belongs to you and the filing belongs to us. We announce each deadline in advance and we chase the documents we need.
Where a deadline is missed because we did not file on time with everything in hand, we pay the penalty. Where it is missed because the documents arrived after the date we asked for them, we do not.
We keep the proof of every submission, and it is available in your account.
Software, invoicing and archiving
The invoicing software is provided as it stands, with the availability we can reasonably maintain. We announce planned maintenance and we do it outside business hours where we can.
Invoices issued through Sahla are generated in the formats accepted by the UAE authorities, and they are archived for the period the law requires. Where electronic invoicing becomes mandatory for your business, we handle the transmission through an accredited service provider.
You remain the issuer of your invoices. We are the tool and, where you appoint us, the agent who files. We are not the author of your commercial terms.
Your files and your data
Your accounting records, your invoices and your company documents belong to you. Not to us, and not to the software.
You can export them at any time, in a readable format, without asking us and without paying for it. After a cancellation they stay exportable for thirty days, and they are retained afterwards for the seven years the tax authority requires.
How we process personal data, and how you have it corrected or deleted, is set out in the privacy policy.
What we are not
We are not a law firm, and nothing on this site is legal advice. We are not a statutory auditor. We are not a bank, and we do not hold client money beyond the fees you pay us.
Where a question needs a lawyer or an auditor, we say so and we point you to one rather than answering around it.
Intellectual property
The platform, the code, the brand, the texts and the design of this site belong to Sahla Group. Using the service does not transfer any of it.
You get a personal, non exclusive, non transferable right to use the software for as long as your subscription runs. You may not copy it, resell it, or use it to build a competing product.
The content you put into the platform stays yours. We use it only to deliver the service.
Liability
Our liability towards you is limited to the fees you paid us for the service concerned over the twelve months before the event.
We are not liable for indirect loss, for lost profit, or for the consequences of a decision taken by an authority, a bank or an insurer.
None of this limits liability for fraud, for gross negligence, or for anything that cannot be limited under the law of the United Arab Emirates.
Suspension and termination
We can suspend a service for an unpaid invoice, for a use that breaks these terms, or where continuing would put us in breach of a regulation. Except in the last case, we warn you first and we give you a reasonable time to fix it.
You can leave at any time. We do not hold your files hostage: the export stays available, and we hand over to the accountant or the agent who takes over.
Changes to these terms
These terms change when the law changes, or when we add a service. The date at the top of this page is the date of the version in force.
A change that affects a running subscription is announced by email at least thirty days before it applies. If you do not accept it, you can cancel before it takes effect and we refund the unused part of the period.
Governing law and disputes
These terms are governed by the laws of the United Arab Emirates.
If something goes wrong, write to us first. Most of it is settled that way, and faster. If we cannot resolve it, the courts of Dubai have jurisdiction, unless a mandatory rule sends the matter elsewhere or the service concerned is subject to the complaints procedure of its own regulator.
A question on a clause?
An adviser answers on WhatsApp, in English, French or Arabic. We would rather explain a term now than argue about it later.
Ask us