UAE move: do I still file at home?
See which home country filing obligations survive a move to the Emirates.
Open itFree zone treatment survives only while non-qualifying revenue stays inside a de minimis limit and the other conditions hold. This computes the limit on your revenue, tests each condition and prices the consequence of failing.
The free zone entity
AED
All revenue, qualifying and not.
AED
Revenue from excluded activities, and from non-qualifying activities where the counterparty is outside a free zone.
%
Five per cent of total revenue under the current rule.
AED
Five million dirhams. The limit is the lower of the percentage and this cap.
AED
Taxable income from qualifying activities.
AED
Taxable income from the non-qualifying revenue above.
%
Nine per cent.
AED
Only relevant where the entity falls out of the free zone regime.
Core income-generating activities carried out in the zone, with adequate people, assets and expenditure.
A standing condition of the regime, not an optional extra.
An election out is available and it is irrevocable for a period.
De minimis limit
—
Set by —
Qualifying free zone person —
De minimis test —
Non-qualifying revenue—
Headroom below the limit—
Amount over the limit—
Tax on qualifying income—
Tax on non-qualifying income—
Total tax—
Effective rate on total income—
Conditions failed—
Which conditions failed
- Enter your figures above and this fills in.
The de minimis limit is the lower of two numbers
Non-qualifying revenue has to stay within the lower of five per cent of total revenue and five million dirhams. On a small entity the percentage binds; on a large one the absolute cap binds, and it binds hard. An entity with 200 million dirhams of revenue does not get ten million of headroom — it gets five million, because the cap is the lower figure.
The readout names which of the two set your limit. That matters for planning, because an entity near the cap cannot grow its way out of the problem: growing total revenue stops helping the moment the cap takes over.
Failing is not a one-year problem
Breaching the limit does not simply tax the excess. It removes free zone status for the period in which the breach occurred and for the four periods that follow, so the whole taxable income goes through the ordinary regime for five periods. That is what makes the de minimis test worth monitoring during the year rather than discovering after it.
Note also what the test does not do. Passing it protects the status, so the qualifying income keeps the nil rate — but the non-qualifying income is still taxed at the ordinary rate, and without the nil band against it. Passing the de minimis test and paying no tax are two different things.
Worked example
A free zone trading entity has 40 million dirhams of total revenue, of which 1.6 million is non-qualifying. It maintains substance and prepares audited accounts.
- Five per cent of 40 million is 2 million, which is below the 5 million cap, so the limit is 2 million.
- Non-qualifying revenue of 1.6 million is inside the limit, with 400,000 of headroom.
- Status holds. The qualifying income keeps the nil rate and the 300,000 of non-qualifying income is taxed at nine per cent with no band against it.
Push non-qualifying revenue to 2.1 million and the entity loses the regime for this period and the next four. One contract is the difference.
What this calculator assumes
- The percentage, the cap and the rate are the current figures and are cited below. All are editable.
- Which activities are qualifying and which are excluded is set out in ministerial decisions and is not reproduced here. This tool takes your split of the revenue.
- Passing the de minimis test protects the status. The non-qualifying income is still taxed at the ordinary rate, with no nil band applied to it.
- Failing removes the regime for the period of the breach and the four following periods, which is why the tool prints the consequence rather than just a rate.
An estimate, not advice. This is an estimate built from what you typed, not advice on your file. Nothing here reads your documents, checks your treaty article or looks at the year you are actually in. Where the number matters, we agree a fixed fee in writing before any work starts.
Where these figures come from
- current guidance Corporate tax — free zone persons, Federal Tax Authority
- Ministerial Decision 229 of 2025 Qualifying activities and excluded activities — UAE Ministry of Finance
- current legislation Corporate tax legislation — UAE Ministry of Finance
Any figure prefilled in the panel above is stated with the year it belongs to and can be changed. Rates and thresholds move; a calculator that asks you for the current one stays right, and one that hides a guess does not.
Cross-border situations we are engaged for
Case study 1
Qualifying income identified for a UAE free zone entity's mixed revenue streams
A UAE free zone entity had several revenue streams, only some of which met the conditions for qualifying income under the preferential corporate tax treatment. We reviewed each revenue stream against the qualifying conditions, separated the qualifying from the non-qualifying income, and the entity's filing reflected the correct split.
Case study 2
Free zone status reviewed after an entity's activity expanded beyond its original scope
A free zone entity's activity had grown beyond what it was originally structured for, raising a question over whether all of its income still qualified for the preferential treatment. We reviewed the expanded activity against the qualifying conditions, identified which portion no longer qualified, and corrected the entity's filing position accordingly.
Case study 3
De minimis threshold applied for a free zone entity with limited non-qualifying income
A free zone entity had a small amount of non-qualifying income alongside its predominantly qualifying revenue, and wanted to understand whether the de minimis threshold protected its overall preferential status. We reviewed the non-qualifying income against the threshold, confirmed the entity remained within it, and the entity's qualifying status was preserved for the year.
Case study 4
Never Filed a US Return — and Only Just Found Out
Born in the United States, left as an infant, and told by a bank that the returns were owed all along. The work is sequencing: establish which years are actually open, choose the catch-up route on the facts rather than filing quietly, and claim the exclusions and credits that were never taken.
Read how this one runs
Case study 5
Indian Rent Collected While Resident Somewhere Else
Rent from Indian property is taxed in India and again where you live, with relief on one side only. The file gets the Indian deduction right first, then claims the credit on the home return against what was actually paid.
Read how this one runs
Case study 6
First Canadian Return After Arriving Mid-Year
The arrival date splits the year and sets the cost base of what you brought with you. Getting that date and those values right is what determines whether a later sale is taxed on the whole gain or only on the part that accrued after landing.
Read how this one runs
Case study 7
A Group File That Had to Describe the Whole Group
The master file is a picture of the business rather than of one company, and it has to agree with what each local file says. Assembling it surfaces inconsistencies between entities that nobody had compared.
Read how this one runs
Case study 8
A Distribution From a Trust Set Up Abroad
A distribution can be capital in the trust's country and income here, and the reporting attaches to the beneficiary rather than the trustee. The work is characterising the payment before it is received where possible.
Read how this one runsAll case studies — every published engagement in one place.
Core International & Cross-Border Tax Services
International Tax Planning & Advisory
Strategy and compliance for income, assets and families spread across borders.
One coordinating team: filings on every side of the border are sequenced so treaty relief and foreign tax credits are claimed once — and in the right country.
U.S. & Cross-Border Tax Returns
Dual filers: U.S. citizens in Canada and Canadians with U.S. income run two parallel systems — we prepare both, in the right order, every year.
Expat & Emigration Tax
The move year is its own project: the elections and valuations filed that year decide the next decade of both countries’ returns.
Non-Resident Canadian Tax
Default withholding is 25% of gross: elective returns routinely turn over-withheld rent and pensions into refunds.
Transfer Pricing & BEPS
Documentation prepared with the return is the cheapest insurance in international tax; reconstructing it during an audit is the most expensive.
Tax Treaties & Withholding
Relief is only as good as the paperwork claiming it — we build treaty positions that survive review on both sides.
Cross-Border Estates & Trusts
Wills drafted for one country routinely misfire in the other — deemed disposition here, estate tax there, credits in between.
Global Investments & Reporting
Information returns carry the sharpest penalties — $25 a day whether or not any tax is owing. We keep them clean and on time.
Cross-Border Corporate Tax
Expansion raises the same four questions every time — entity, PE, repatriation, payroll. We answer them before the tax authorities do.
India Tax for NRIs & Returning Residents
The deduction is taken on the sale price, not the gain — which is why an NRI property sale strands cash unless the certificate is applied for before closing.
Canadian Tax with a Foreign Element
Residency is decided on facts, not on a form — and the year you arrive or leave is the one where the largest amounts turn on the smallest details.
UAE Tax for Expats & Their Home Country
A zero-tax country is only half the answer — the question that decides the bill is whether the country you came from still treats you as resident.
Industries & Client Types We Serve Worldwide
Global E-commerce & Marketplaces
Technology & SaaS
Professional Services Firms
Cross-Border Real Estate
Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers
Athletes, Artists & Entertainers
Remote Workers & Digital Nomads
Investment Funds & Holding Companies
Global E-commerce & Marketplaces
- Foreign VAT / GST / sales tax registrations
- Marketplace withholding reviews
- Inventory nexus & PE analysis
- Multi-currency books reconciled
Who We Serve:
Technology & SaaS
- Cross-border revenue sourcing & withholding
- IP structuring with real substance
- Equity for cross-border teams
- U.S. expansion: entity & PE setup
Who We Serve:
Professional Services Firms
- Reg 105 / 102 waivers
- Permanent establishment risk
- Partner mobility planning
- Cross-border withholding recovery
Who We Serve:
Cross-Border Real Estate
- Section 216 rental returns
- FIRPTA withholding recovery
- Section 116 clearance
- Treaty credit optimization
Who We Serve:
Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers
- Transfer pricing documentation (s.247)
- Customs value vs transfer price
- Foreign affiliate reporting (T1134)
- Country-by-country reporting
Who We Serve:
Athletes, Artists & Entertainers
- Reg 105 & U.S. CWA agreements
- Multi-state & country calendars
- Touring income allocation
- Royalty & image-rights withholding
Who We Serve:
Remote Workers & Digital Nomads
Working from anywhere doesn't mean taxed nowhere: residency defaults, employer payroll exposure and treaty relief decide where income actually lands.
Working from another country does not by itself end tax residence in the one you left, and it can start one where you are sitting. Day counts, ties, the employer's own exposure and the treaty tie-breaker all point at the same question, and the year you move is the year it has to be answered on paper.
- Residency analysis before moving
- Employer payroll exposure
- Totalization & social security
- Foreign tax credits
Who We Serve:
Investment Funds & Holding Companies
- Treaty access & PPT reviews
- FAPI & surplus computations
- Withholding-efficient routing
- Governance & substance
Who We Serve:
