While Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) is neither an offshore centre nor a free zone (businesses registered with QFC need not be located there; they can have offices elsewhere in Doha), it provides infrastructure to make it easy for firms operating in the financial services sector to enter the Qatari market.

Established by the government of Qatar in 2005, the QFC comprises four independent bodies: the QFC Authority (QFCA); the QFC Regulatory Authority; the Civil and Commercial Court (First Instance and Appellate divisions); and the Regulatory Tribunal.

The QFC Authority is the commercial and strategic arm of the QFC. It is responsible for developing and ensuring compliance with the QFC regulations and rules comprising the QFC’s legal and tax environments; for administration relating to company registration, employment standards and immigration; and for the licensing of all firms applying to conduct non-regulated permitted activities. The QFC continues to attract a broad range of regulated and non-regulated firms, both domestic and international. 

QFC-licensed firms benefit from an environment that adheres to international standards, with a legal system based on English Common Law, regulation that is risk- and principles-based, and low taxes. Business can be carried out in or from the QFC, in local or foreign currency. This allows businesses to operate both locally and cross-border. The QFC permits 100 per cent ownership by foreign companies and all profits can be remitted outside Qatar.

Firms registered at QFC are subject to a 10 per cent corporation tax charged on all locally sourced profits, based on accounts. Companies can also benefit from Qatar’s double-taxation agreements with more than 35 countries; the US and Japan are among the states where unilateral tax relief applies. The current tax regime was introduced at the start of 2010.

More than 160 licences have been issued to local and international businesses since 2005. At the end of April 2014, 65 firms worked across regulated categories, including investment banking, private banking, reinsurance and asset management. There were also 86 non-regulated companies, such as consultancies, law firms and financial services recruitment firms.