How do you close or liquidate a company in Qatar, and what happens to creditors?

What are the ways to close a company in Qatar?

A company enters liquidation the moment it is dissolved. It keeps its legal personality only for the liquidation and adds "under liquidation" to its name (Commercial Companies Law, Article 304). When the liquidation ends, it is struck off the commercial register (Article 319). The route depends on the company's finances and on whether the partners agree:

This guide covers the limited liability company (WLL). Companies in the Qatar Financial Centre and the free zones have their own rules. For the law as a whole, see Qatar's Commercial Companies Law.

How does a voluntary liquidation of a WLL work, step by step?

The founding document, or the partners' agreement on dissolution, comes first; otherwise the Companies Law applies (Article 306). The usual steps:

1. 1

   Resolve to dissolve. All partners must agree unless the founding document allows a set majority (Article 291). If losses have reached half the capital, the vote needs the majority for amending the document (Article 298).

2. 2

   Appoint a liquidator by ordinary majority, with the fee set in the appointment (Article 307). Until then, the managers act as liquidators towards third parties (Article 305).

3. 3

   Publish. The dissolution is entered in the commercial register and published in two local dailies, one at least in Arabic (Article 303); the liquidator publishes the appointment (Article 308). The Ministry of Commerce and Industry's liquidation request form asks for a 75-day newspaper notice.

4. 4

   Take stock. Within three months, the liquidator lists assets and liabilities, with the auditor if there is one, and the managers hand over the books (Article 316).

5. 5

   Call in creditors by registered letter, or by notice in two dailies and on the company's website if they are unknown. They get at least 45 days to claim, and the notice is repeated after 20 days (Article 312).

6. 6

   Collect and pay. The liquidator collects what the company is owed, sells assets at auction or by any method that gets the highest price, and pays debts in the legal order (Articles 310 and 313).

7. 7

   Return the rest. Partners get back the cash value of their shares, then share any surplus in their profit ratios (Article 317).

8. 8

   Close. The liquidation ends only when the partners approve the final account. The liquidator publishes its end and asks for strike-off (Article 319) within 30 days (Commercial Register Law, Articles 11 and 12).

A liquidation may not exceed three years without a court or ministerial decision (Article 316). The liquidator may start no new business except to finish existing deals, or answers for it personally (Article 311), and liquidators are jointly liable for exceeding their powers or for their mistakes (Article 309).

How are creditors paid, and in what order?

All the company's debts fall due on dissolution (Article 312). The liquidator then pays in this order:

The liquidator sets aside enough for disputed debts (Article 314). If a creditor does not come forward, the amount is deposited with the court until the creditor appears or the debt lapses (Article 312).

A WLL partner is liable only up to their share (Article 228). If the assets cannot cover the debts, the company can be declared bankrupt even during liquidation (Trade Law, Article 719). Creditors' claims from the company's business lapse three years after the company ends (Article 339). To collect from a company that is still trading, see recovering a debt in Qatar.

What happens to employees' wages and gratuity?

Employees come first. What a worker is owed under the Labour Law carries a privilege over all the employer's assets, ahead of every other debt, the State's included (Labour Law, Article 5).

• Before ending contracts for economic or structural reasons, the employer notifies the Ministry of Labour in writing at least 15 days ahead, with the reasons and the number of workers affected (Article 52 bis).
• Notice is one month in the first two years of service and two months after; otherwise the worker is owed basic pay for the notice period (Article 49).
• Gratuity is at least three weeks' pay per year of service after a full year, on the last basic wage (Article 54). See the gratuity calculator.
• In a bankruptcy, the trustee pays the last 30 days' wages within ten days of the judgment, ahead of any other debt (Trade Law, Article 656).

The Single Window will not close the CR without the Ministry of Labour's approval. If the company does not pay, the Workers' Support and Insurance Fund can pay amounts set by a final committee decision or judgment and recover them from the employer (Law No. 17 of 2018, Articles 5 and 16). For a company that has ended, the cap is two months' gross salary, up to QAR 12,000, unless the Fund's chairman decides to exceed it (Decision No. 2 of 2022, Article 4). See unpaid salary in Qatar.

When does a court order liquidation, and how do bankruptcy and composition work?

A judgment dissolving the company or declaring it bankrupt ends it (Article 291), and in a court-ordered liquidation the court sets the method and appoints the liquidator (Article 307). The Investment and Trade Court hears partner disputes and bankruptcy and composition cases (Law No. 21 of 2021, Article 7). Whether a partner can obtain a dissolution depends on the grounds; see partner disputes.

Qatar has no separate bankruptcy law yet. The rules are in Book Six of the Trade Law (Law No. 27 of 2006, Articles 606 to 846), never amended according to Al Meezan. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry discussed a draft new bankruptcy law with the private sector in August 2025, so check whether it has been issued before relying on this section.

In a bankruptcy, creditors file proof of debt with the trustee within 15 days of the last notice, doubled for those outside Qatar (Article 705). Some acts after the date payments stopped, such as gifts and early repayments, do not bind the creditors (Article 635), and that date can go back up to two years before the judgment (Article 620). If the assets cover less than a fifth of the debts, the court may order the managers to pay some or all of them, unless they prove they acted with a prudent person's care (Article 732).

How do you close the CR, the tax file and the licences?

Liquidation and closing the main CR run through the Single Window's Company Closure service in two stages, and the CR and licence must be renewed before they can be deleted.

1. 1

   Tax. The liquidator notifies the General Tax Authority of the appointment and of the end of the liquidation, within 30 days each time, and files the return for the liquidation period as the taxpayer (Income Tax Law Article 14; Executive Regulations Articles 3, 28 and 29).

2. 2

   Tax clearance. On Dhareeba, request a no-objection certificate for cancelling the CR once every return is filed and every amount paid; the tax number is cancelled after the CR. See company tax in Qatar.

3. 3

   Strike-off. File the documents in the table below.

4. 4

   Licence and establishment card. The commercial licence is cancelled once the authority is told the premises have stopped trading (Law No. 5 of 2015, Article 19). The Ministry of Interior establishment card is cancelled once no valid residence permits, visas or vehicles remain on it.

When should you speak to a lawyer?

Many liquidations run smoothly when the steps are planned early. Signs it is worth getting advice:

• The partners disagree on dissolving or on the liquidator.
• The assets may not cover the debts, or the company has stopped paying.
• A company that owes you money is in liquidation, and the claim period is running.
• Employees, the landlord or a bank are still owed money.
• Tax returns are missing, or the tax clearance has not come through.
• Losses have reached half the capital, or you fear personal liability as a manager or sole owner.
• You are weighing a preventive composition, and the 20 days from stopping payment are running.

Questions people ask