Tax, Setup and Compliance Guides
Setup costs, freezone vs mainland, UK exit tax, and everything else a UK director actually needs to know, written by our Dubai-based team, plus UK-side support while you transition.
Moving to Dubai
UK Director in Dubai: How the 0% Corporate Tax Rate Actually Works
A UAE free zone company can bring your effective tax rate toward 0%, but only if you meet the Qualifying Free Zone Person conditions on an ongoing basis, not just at setup — get the structure wrong and you end up with an expensive UAE company that doesn't change your UK tax position at all.
Read the guide →How to Move Your UK Business to Dubai: The Complete Guide
Moving a UK business to Dubai is really two projects, a UAE setup and a UK exit, that only work when run as one plan. Here's the complete sequence.
Read the guide →Dubai Company Setup Costs from the UK: Full Breakdown
"From 15,000 AED" is real, but it's the licence, not the whole picture. Every line item in a UK-to-Dubai setup, and where cheap packages get expensive.
Read the guide →Freezone vs Mainland: Which UAE Structure for UK Directors?
The freezone-or-mainland question has a boring, reliable answer: follow your customers. Here's how the two structures differ on tax, trade, banking and cost.
Read the guide →UK Tax When You Leave: Exit Rules for Directors Moving to Dubai
Leaving the UK doesn't end your relationship with HMRC: it restructures it. The Statutory Residence Test and five-year rule decide what you keep.
Read the guide →UK vs UAE Corporation Tax: The Complete Comparison for Business Owners
UK corporation tax runs 19%–25%. UAE runs 0%–9%, with conditions. The full side-by-side: tax, VAT, treaty position and setup cost.
Read the guide →Opening a UAE Corporate Bank Account as a UK Director: What the Banks Actually Ask For
UAE banks reject applications mostly over a vague business activity description, incomplete source-of-funds evidence, or inconsistent ownership details across the licence and application — not because the business itself is a problem. Banking, not licensing, is what stretches most Dubai relocation timelines.
Read the guide →UAE Residency Visas for UK Directors: Investor Status, Family Sponsorship and Emirates ID
A UAE company gives you the right to apply for residency, not residency itself — the actual visa sequence (entry permit, medical test, Emirates ID, visa stamp) typically takes two to three weeks once your trade licence exists.
Read the guide →UK Transition Support
While your UAE structure goes live: corporation tax, VAT, payroll and the rest of your UK-side wind-down.
UK Corporation Tax on the Way Out: Your Final Period Before Dubai
UK corporation tax has run two rates since April 2023 — 19% up to £50,000 profit, 25% above £250,000, with marginal relief tapering between — and an "associated companies" rule that can shrink your lower-rate band if you own more than one company.
Read the guide →IR35 Contractors Moving to Dubai: What Changes When You Leave
IR35 tests whether someone working through their own limited company should be taxed like an employee of their client for that engagement, or as a genuinely independent business — and since 2021, it's usually the client, not the contractor, who's responsible for getting that determination right.
Read the guide →Clearing a Director's Loan Account Before You Move to Dubai
If an overdrawn director's loan isn't repaid within 9 months and 1 day of the company's year-end, the company owes Section 455 tax at 35.75% of the outstanding balance — refundable once repaid, but not for months, which makes it a real cash-flow cost even though it isn't permanent.
Read the guide →Selling Your UK Company Before Moving to Dubai: CGT and the Five-Year Rule
Selling your company's shares is taxed at 18% or 24% depending on your income tax band, or 18% on the first £1 million of gains if you qualify for Business Asset Disposal Relief. Only £3,000 a year is exempt, and the 24-month qualifying period means eligibility is built years before a buyer appears.
Read the guide →Moving to Dubai from the UK: What It Costs and What Changes
British citizens can enter the UAE visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180, but living there needs a residence visa, and leaving the UK tax system is a third, separate test. What actually changes when you move: your residency, the UK income you leave behind, and what the move costs.
Read the guide →Setting Up a Business in Dubai from the UK: What Directors Get Wrong
Setting up in Dubai from the UK is the easy half. The hard half is that a UAE trade licence does not move your company out of UK tax by itself: HMRC decides company residence on where the business is actually run from, not where it is registered.
Read the guide →