Our valued sponsor

Dubai 90 Days No Longer Possible (Must Be 180 Days!)

AbsetJW

New member
Jun 11, 2021
21
15
3
34
Thailand
Visit site
Apparently, UAE have decided to change the rules for tax residency.

It's no longer 90 days + a company/Ejari for tax residency.

This was changed but no announcement has been made.

It's now 183 days in the country to be an official tax resident.

Has anyone heard of this?
 
Apparently, UAE have decided to change the rules for tax residency.

It's no longer 90 days + a company/Ejari for tax residency.

This was changed but no announcement has been made.

It's now 183 days in the country to be an official tax resident.

Has anyone heard of this?
I believe people are just misunderstanding the new criteria.

A natural person will be considered a UAE Tax Resident in 3 cases, e.g., if the individual:
  1. was physically present in the UAE for a period of 90 days or more in a consecutive 12-month period, and the individual is a UAE national,
  2. holds a valid residence permit in the UAE
  3. or holds the nationality of any GCC Member State, where:
    (i) he or she has a permanent place of residence in the UAE; or
    (ii) he or she carries on an employment or a business in the UAE.
 
Yes it changed. UAE lied again.

Source: https://tax.gov.ae/en/services/issuance.of.tax.certificates.aspx

2. An Applicant who is a natural person and applying for Tax residency certificate for treaty purposes, must have been residing in the UAE for at least 183 days during the requested financial year.


3. An applicant that is natural person and applying for Tax residency certificate for Domestic purposes can fall into the following categories and still apply

• (spent in UAE above 183 days, less than 183 days but above 90 days or less than 90 days)


For 90 days you will get only domestic tax certificate which is useless internationally.
 
Yes it changed. UAE lied again.

Source: Issuance of Tax Certificates (Tax residency & commercial activity)

2. An Applicant who is a natural person and applying for Tax residency certificate for treaty purposes, must have been residing in the UAE for at least 183 days during the requested financial year.


3. An applicant that is natural person and applying for Tax residency certificate for Domestic purposes can fall into the following categories and still apply

• (spent in UAE above 183 days, less than 183 days but above 90 days or less than 90 days)


For 90 days you will get only domestic tax certificate which is useless internationally.

Interesting and not surprising but this would be an issue only for an individual who is tax resident in another country, as they might ask for this tax certificate. For an individual who has clearly cut any ties with any other juridictions - and who moved over after one tax year, this should not be an issue.

This is my practical understanding.
 
Can confirm that this have been going on for a while. Tried to get TRC earlier this year when the announcement was made that you can get it by staying in 90 days... well well well FTA got back with "90days only for domestic purposes only". In reality if you have lived in UAE more than one year they can write you the 180days one only with 3-4months in country but would not bet on this whole time. Other government tax agencies can ask you about travel dates and if you dont have them in check it is not good. I have seen situations where they dig everything up when it comes to paying taxes. If you have to give other governments something valid it is TRC for international tax treaty purposes , the 90 days one in my experience you can wipe your a*s since many of the high tax countries do not recognize those.
 
Can confirm that this have been going on for a while. Tried to get TRC earlier this year when the announcement was made that you can get it by staying in 90 days... well well well FTA got back with "90days only for domestic purposes only". In reality if you have lived in UAE more than one year they can write you the 180days one only with 3-4months in country but would not bet on this whole time. Other government tax agencies can ask you about travel dates and if you dont have them in check it is not good. I have seen situations where they dig everything up when it comes to paying taxes. If you have to give other governments something valid it is TRC for international tax treaty purposes , the 90 days one in my experience you can wipe your a*s since many of the high tax countries do not recognize those.
I can agree with that. When they really want they dig everything. Flight tickets, cc operations etc etc. If you don't have TRC on check you will be in problem.
How this domestic TRC looks? In some cases domestic could be enough, but you really have to cut all ties
 
Interesting and not surprising but this would be an issue only for an individual who is tax resident in another country, as they might ask for this tax certificate. For an individual who has clearly cut any ties with any other juridictions - and who moved over after one tax year, this should not be an issue.

This is my practical understanding.
Many bilateral treaties don't include the 183-day rule, so it shouldn't immediately mean that if you stay under 183 days you can't be a UAE tax resident based on the treaty (at least in theory).
If however they say they don't issue such trc if you stay under 183 days then it looks like a potential way to get screwed if another country claims your tax residence even if its a treaty country.
Since they don't have personal income tax there is no tax base to protect so I dont see why they should care.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Konstanz
Many bilateral treaties don't include the 183-day rule, so it shouldn't immediately mean that if you stay under 183 days you can't be a UAE tax resident based on the treaty (at least in theory).
If however they say they don't issue such trc if you stay under 183 days then it looks like a potential way to get screwed if another country claims your tax residence even if its a treaty country.
Since they don't have personal income tax there is no tax base to protect so I dont see why they should care.
I think they want people to live in UAE as much as possible.
Anyway, the person has to live in some place.
 
Would be interesting to get some thoughts from @EmiratesSetup about this, they may also be able to help you with possible setups etc.
 
Who would not expect that? Why do so many people believe once they have a tax residence certificate it means they have tax liability in another country?

A TRC is mostly only useful to apply benefits under DTAA. Your tax residence can and will still be challenged by authorities if you reside most of your time in that country, and just showing them that TRC paper will not be sufficient.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Revoltec and jafo
Who would not expect that? Why do so many people believe once they have a tax residence certificate it means they have tax liability in another country?

A TRC is mostly only useful to apply benefits under DTAA. Your tax residence can and will still be challenged by authorities if you reside most of your time in that country, and just showing them that TRC paper will not be sufficient.
Isn't it more that some countries may require a TRC to show that you are out of their tax net. Like France, if you move from France to the UAE, and they audit you, and you dont have a TRC, they can claim you are still a tax resident in France.
So it's not a DTA issue - most high tax countries don't have a DTA with the UAE anyway.
 
Isn't it more that some countries may require a TRC to show that you are out of their tax net. Like France, if you move from France to the UAE, and they audit you, and you dont have a TRC, they can claim you are still a tax resident in France.
So it's not a DTA issue - most high tax countries don't have a DTA with the UAE anyway.
The funny thing is that another country's legislation shouldn't impact the first country's legislation. But in most cases Tax Agencies use the TRC in this way. In Sweden for example, by law there is no need that you have established a tax residency in the new country you live in but you would need to take them to court in order for them to accept this. Then you also need to read every DTA in itself, what is written. A proper way to prove these things are some kind of proof that you actually reside in that country and have an address for the period, but most tax agencies do not wanna look at that only.

Keep in mind France actually DO have a DTA with the UAE so this is an 'easier' way for them to verify they cannot tax you.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Konstanz
Who would not expect that? Why do so many people believe once they have a tax residence certificate it means they have tax liability in another country?

A TRC is mostly only useful to apply benefits under DTAA. Your tax residence can and will still be challenged by authorities if you reside most of your time in that country, and just showing them that TRC paper will not be sufficient.
I don’t see it that way. In my particular case, I thought I want to travel a lot. I want to have a low tax place (Dubai with 90 days sounded great) and have some security that my home country will not annoyed me (trc). My plan was to spend 90 days in uae, 2 month in Thailand, 2 months in Brazil, 2 driving around Europe and the rest in my home country.

However, without trc I feel unprotected with my home country as it is in Europe and they are the biggest assholes ever. I broke ties with them but you never know…
 
I don’t see it that way. In my particular case, I thought I want to travel a lot. I want to have a low tax place (Dubai with 90 days sounded great) and have some security that my home country will not annoyed me (trc). My plan was to spend 90 days in uae, 2 month in Thailand, 2 months in Brazil, 2 driving around Europe and the rest in my home country.

However, without trc I feel unprotected with my home country as it is in Europe and they are the biggest assholes ever. I broke ties with them but you never know…
I am kind of in the same situation as you. Do you have a new 'solution'? I would like to connect :)