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.
How UK Directors Legally Reduce Their Corporation Tax Bill
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 →VAT Registration and Compliance Checklist for UK Businesses
Most UK VAT problems aren't about the rate — they're quiet failures: a scheme that stopped being the right choice years ago, digital record-keeping that technically breaks Making Tax Digital, or a registration date that slipped past unnoticed once turnover crossed the threshold.
Read the guide →IR35 and Off-Payroll Working: What UK Contractors and Directors Need to Know
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 →Director's Loan Accounts: Tax Rules Every UK Director Should Know
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: Capital Gains Tax and Business Asset Disposal Relief Explained
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 →UK Payroll and PAYE: A Complete Guide for Small Business Employers
Payroll is a real-time reporting obligation with a deadline on every pay run, not an annual task. That's where the compliance risk actually sits.
Read the guide →Bookkeeping and Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: What's Changing and When
Making Tax Digital extends VAT's digital record-keeping rules to self-employed and property income. The runway to comply is shorter than it looks.
Read the guide →How to Register a UK Limited Company: A Step-by-Step Guide for New Directors
Incorporating a UK company takes as little as 24 hours through Companies House. What actually matters happens before and after that moment.
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 →