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People hold up panels, forming of a map of the UAE

Tax residence in the UAE

Donatello Pirlo TEP and Guido Ravaglia TEP consider the UAEs tax residency criteria

From a taxation perspective, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has historically promoted a policy of absence of direct federal taxes, such as corporate or personal income tax. However, the UAE is aiming to shed its reputation as a so-called tax haven. The removal of the UAE from the EU’s blacklist in 2019 has assisted in changing this perception.

More recently, the UAE has made further attempts to align with modern international standards by introducing corporation tax (at 9 per cent where the taxable income exceeds AED375,000) and tax residency criteria for both natural and non-natural persons. With regard to natural persons, however, the non-taxation regime prevails except for those conducting, and any foreign-source income linked to, a business or business activity in the UAE. In this case, they will be subject to corporation tax where the total turnover derived from such business or business activity exceeds AED1 million.

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