Bahrain
The most open way into the Gulf — no profit tax, full foreign ownership, and a causeway into Saudi Arabia
Bahrain is small, and that is the point: it is not a market, it is a way in. A company is formed without a local partner in most sectors, profit tax is zero, and Saudi Arabia — a hundred times the size — is under an hour away across the King Fahd Causeway. Since 2025 a domestic minimum tax of 15 % applies to large multinational groups under OECD Pillar Two; it does not touch an ordinary Central European firm, but it changes its customer's arithmetic. VAT at 10 % is the highest in the Gulf.
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Setting up a company
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Legal forms
- ·Foreign ownership
Taxes
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Corporate income tax
- ·VAT
Visas and residence
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Short stay
- ·Work permit
Investment opportunities
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Rules for a foreign investor
What it makes and needs
Financial services and Islamic banking, aluminium (Alba is one of the world's largest smelters), logistics and transhipment, oil downstream, IT services. It buys machinery, building materials, food and consumer goods — almost everything is imported.
Money and payments
The Bahraini dinar (BHD), pegged to the US dollar. The rate is stable and there are no exchange controls — profits and capital are repatriated freely.
Importing into their market
The Gulf Cooperation Council's common tariff: 5 % of CIF value on most goods, with exceptions — some food and medicines are at zero, while tobacco and alcohol carry excise duties an order of magnitude higher. Duty is paid once on entry into the customs union and the goods then move between member states without further duty.
Toys and low-voltage electrical appliances may be sold in the Gulf only with the G mark (Gulf Conformity Mark) under GSO technical regulations. Since 1 April 2017 it is shown as the GCTS tracking symbol: the G mark with a QR code. It is mandatory in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Yemen, and is issued by a GSO notified body.
Prepackaged food is labelled under GSO 9/2013: the information must be in Arabic, and another language may appear only alongside it with identical content. Halal food follows GSO 2055-1:2015 across the whole chain from receipt to storage; GSO published a draft of its new version on 17 February 2026.
Outlook
What to watch: the fiscal consolidation behind the VAT rise from 5 to 10 % and the talk of further taxes; traffic across the King Fahd Causeway and the planned rail project to Saudi Arabia; and the build-out of data centres, which is pulling demand for electrical equipment and cooling.
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