UAE corporate tax applicability
Work out Emirati corporate tax and whether small business relief applies.
Open itThere is no personal income tax in the United Arab Emirates, so nobody moves there for an Emirati return. The work is the return you still owe at home. Pick your country, enter the facts, and this lists what survives the move.
Where you came from
The four corridors this desk works in. Each one keeps hold of you differently.
Only relevant if you chose the United States. Citizenship-based taxation does not care where you live.
For Canada in particular, a home kept available is one of the strongest indicators of continued residence.
Spouse, dependants and home are the significant ones. Bank accounts and memberships are secondary.
$
Rent, interest, dividends, a pension, or employment days worked there.
AED
Personal income is untaxed; a company or a licensed establishment is a separate regime.
days
Only used for the India corridor.
days
Only used for the India corridor.
days
Only used for the India corridor.
years
Only used for the India corridor.
The test is a day count read with a table of ties. Answer it with your adviser rather than guessing.
What still has to be dealt with
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Obligations identified —
A worldwide-income return still due at home —
Emirati personal income tax on your salary—
The list
- Enter your figures above and this fills in.
Say the honest thing first: there is no personal income tax here
The Emirates do not levy a personal income tax on salary, investment income or capital gains. A calculator that pretended otherwise would be selling something. So this tool does not compute an Emirati liability — it computes what did not come off your plate when you moved.
The four corridors behave very differently. The United States taxes citizens and permanent residents on worldwide income wherever they live, so the return continues without interruption. Canada asks whether you are still factually resident, and a home kept available with family in it is the fact that most often says yes. India asks a day count. The United Kingdom asks a day count read together with a table of ties.
A company in the Emirates is a different question
The absence of personal income tax says nothing about corporate tax, which does exist and does reach a company or a licensed establishment carrying on business here. So a consultant who moves and keeps invoicing through a personal company has swapped a personal filing for a corporate one rather than removing a filing altogether.
There is also a value added tax on supplies, and registration obligations that arrive with revenue rather than with residence. None of that is personal income tax, and none of it appears on a payslip — which is exactly why it gets missed in the first year.
Worked example
A Canadian moves to Dubai in the middle of the year for a three-year contract. Her spouse and children move with her, but the family home in Mississauga is kept empty for visits and she keeps a rental property.
- The empty home is available to her, and a home available is a significant residential tie. On these facts Canada is likely to say she is still factually resident.
- Still resident means a Canadian return on worldwide income, including the untaxed Emirati salary, with no foreign tax to credit against it.
- Let the home on a real lease and sever the remaining significant ties, and the analysis changes to a departure return plus withholding on the rental income.
The Emirati side of this example is empty in both versions. Every number in it is Canadian.
What this calculator assumes
- No Emirati personal income tax is computed, because there is none. What the tool lists is the home country obligations that survive the move.
- Canadian residence is a question of fact decided on ties, not on a day count. This tool flags the two strongest indicators and does not pretend to decide it.
- The Indian analysis uses the day-count tests from the residence section. The United Kingdom test is a day count read with a table of ties, and the tool takes your answer rather than applying the table.
- Corporate tax, value added tax and social insurance in the Emirates are separate regimes with their own thresholds, and only the corporate one is flagged here.
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 Determining your residency status — CRA
- current guidance US citizens and resident aliens abroad — IRS
- current text India — Income-tax Act, section 6
- current guidance Corporate tax — 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.
What these engagements turn on
Case study 1
Wintering in the US Long Enough to Become a US Filer
Days in the United States accumulate across three years, and enough of them make you a US resident for tax regardless of immigration status. The file counts the days properly and files the statement that keeps the position closer connection rather than residence.
Read how this one runs
Case study 2
A Residency Determination Review After Leaving the Country
Residence is decided on ties, not on a form, and the review asks for evidence of every one of them. The file assembles the ties that were severed and the ones that remained, and answers the questionnaire against the treaty rather than around it.
Read how this one runs
Case study 3
A Home Kept in Canada After the Move Abroad
A dwelling left available is the tie the CRA weighs most heavily, and its treatment differs depending on whether it is rented at arm's length. The file settles the residence position first and the rental reporting second.
Read how this one runs
Case study 4
Coming Back to Canada After Years Abroad
Returning restarts Canadian residence and re-values what you own on the day you arrive. Foreign pensions, employer plans and accounts opened abroad each land differently, and the reporting thresholds are tested against the whole portfolio rather than each account.
Read how this one runs
Case study 5
Green Card Kept, Moved to Canada — Both Returns Still Due
Holding a green card does not end the US filing obligation, and living in Canada starts a Canadian one. The engagement fixes residence under the treaty tie-breaker, then decides which return the relief is claimed on so the two do not contradict each other.
Read how this one runs
Case study 6
US Estate Tax on Assets a Canadian Did Not Know Were Exposed
US shares and US real estate sit inside the US estate tax net regardless of where the owner lives. The treaty provides relief that is proportionate rather than automatic, and the calculation depends on the worldwide estate.
Read how this one runs
Case study 7
Branch or Subsidiary, Decided Before Incorporation
The choice changes where profits are taxed, what has to be filed, and whether losses in the early years are usable. It is difficult to reverse once trading has begun, so it is modelled first.
Read how this one runs
Case study 8
Paid for Work Done in Canada While Living Elsewhere
Employment carried out in Canada is taxable here even where the employer and the bank account are not. The engagement establishes how many of the days were worked in Canada, applies the treaty employment article, and deals with the withholding the payer has already taken.
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
- Residency analysis before moving
- Employer payroll exposure
- Totalization & social security
- Foreign tax credits
Who We Serve:
Investment Funds & Holding Companies
Holding structures live or die on treaty access, beneficial ownership and substance — the MLI's principal-purpose test now sits over every arrangement.
A holding structure is only as good as its reporting. Foreign affiliates, accrued passive income and distributions each carry their own return, and the penalties on those attach to the form rather than to any tax being owed — so a structure that saves tax can still cost money if the information returns are late.
- Treaty access & PPT reviews
- FAPI & surplus computations
- Withholding-efficient routing
- Governance & substance
Who We Serve:
