UAE Visa, bank & ID but Living in UK. Will UAE CRS me?

[alphadesertfox]

I have a UAE visa, bank, phone number and Emirates ID, and have recently returned to the UK to live. I have setup a UK LTD and will get most of my income this way getting paid from my clients. I still do a few odd jobs for people in Dubai and will make about £2-4k a month but it's not always consistent. I will get paid into my personal account from my friend's personal account. Money will not come from my friend's business account and not through the Wage Protection System (WPS) which is like PAYE in the UK.

Will the UAE report my accounts to the UK under CRS? My understand is that they only do this for those without a Visa.

 

[dodgeviper]

Not an expert in UAE laws but I think as long as you have a residence there you can just ignore their CRS forms as they'll autocomplete them (because of your UAE residency)
Not 100% sure on this though

 

[Gediminas]

Hey,

Will the UAE report my accounts to the UK under CRS? My understand is that they only do this for those without a Visa.

In theory, they might get reports on you (due to your nationality), but in practice, I doubt they would start pursuing you (very low volume).

It's at your own risk.

 

[Martin Everson]

Will the UAE report my accounts to the UK under CRS? My understand is that they only do this for those without a Visa.

Not unless your UAE account has CRS indicia.

However as I have said in other posts this fake residency will not work against HMRC for very long and if the total amount of tax evaded exceeds £25,000 over time then this is a serious tax offense in UK which can land you up to 6 months in prison.

 

[Sols]

It will probably be fine for now but plan ahead. When these sham UAE residences start blowing up and tax authorities come asking banks in UAE, you might find yourself with a retroactive tax bill and penalties far exceeding the amount of tax you'd be paying on 4,000 GBP/month.

CRS isn't your only worry. Governments occasionally obtain data directly from banks through whistleblowers or other data leaks. Germany recently bought a bunch of data about bank account holders in UAE, and they are sharing it with others.

For taxes, UAE is good if you live there or at the very least live there primarily and spend the rest of your time as a digital nomad.

 

[alphadesertfox]

What I find confusing is if I'm receiving this money from a friend from his personal account to my personal account, how do they determine that to be income from work? We could be betting one another at golf each month for all they know or maybe my friend just likes to give me money : )

 

[Martin Everson]

What I find confusing is if I'm receiving this money from a friend from his personal account to my personal account, how do they determine that to be income from work? We could be betting one another at golf each month for all they know or maybe my friend just likes to give me money : )

Taxman will ask you to explain the deposit and may also ask you to ask friend for source of funds in some cases. Gift tax actually exists so you would need to look at the tax rules where you are from.

 

[JackAlabama]

"recently returned to the UK *to live.*"
The archilles heel of what you intend to do, you have already stated in this sentence.
Going back to your home country and continue to live there as a unregistered citizen etc.

UAE is the least of your worries, it is more on the uk side checking your entry/exit to the country, local banks or someone just simply rat you out for your very unpatriotic, non socialist lifestyle.
You might get away with it, but it is not a winning long term strategy.

 

[JimBeam]

Banks in UAE treat you as a local as you have Emirates ID and they do not report CRS (I've seen guy unticking that without even asking me in front of my eyes, and in the app it's disabled)...

BUT

Some countries use other tactics to find people evading taxes... for instance Germany that bought illegal records from UAE for 2M so they could hunt down those hiding there (source: Germany buys Dubai data to track possible tax evasion)... So maybe UK will do that in the future and you can end up in jail and having problems.

I would stay out of UK more than 6 months a year just in case...

 

[zzzzzz]

I have a UAE visa, bank, phone number and Emirates ID, and have recently returned to the UK to live. I have setup a UK LTD and will get most of my income this way getting paid from my clients. I still do a few odd jobs for people in Dubai and will make about £2-4k a month but it's not always consistent. I will get paid into my personal account from my friend's personal account. Money will not come from my friend's business account and not through the Wage Protection System (WPS) which is like PAYE in the UK.

Will the UAE report my accounts to the UK under CRS? My understand is that they only do this for those without a Visa.

Did you have any control checks from HMRC after you exited UK's tax residency - became nonresident in UK and resident of UAE? I read an article about my countries taxman and UAE, that they can ask you later for rent agreement, credit card statements, bank statements, phone calls, tax certificate...etc. just to check if you're not fake non-resident and you're still living there.
It's crazy that taxman doesn't leave alone somebody who relocated abroad and not even dead people.

 

[Martin Everson]

It's crazy that taxman doesn't leave alone somebody who relocated abroad and not even dead people.

Here is a prediction. Tax reporting to EU for all EU citizens regardless of where they live outside the EU will occur. You will be forced to pay tax at the rate of your EU passport country with a tax credit given for tax paid in your non-EU resident country . The same will apply to income tax hungry UK.

 

[Allisgood]

Did you have any control checks from HMRC after you exited UK's tax residency - became nonresident in UK and resident of UAE? I read an article about my countries taxman and UAE, that they can ask you later for rent agreement, credit card statements, bank statements, phone calls, tax certificate...etc. just to check if you're not fake non-resident and you're still living there.
It's crazy that taxman doesn't leave alone somebody who relocated abroad and not even dead people.

As far as I remember in 2020 you would fill a “Leave U.K.” paper form where you would put your new (foreign) address, new employer and details where any U.K. tax refund would be repaid to.
You would sign the form and physically mail it back. That was it. No other checks.

 

[Martin Everson]

If your leaving UK then completing a P85 form will work in simple case where no ties remain to UK. Other factors such as SRT are important I discussed it below:

Why do I need ANY tax residency?

Banks Banks The people that ask about nomad lifestyle have never really changed address or dealt with banks often enough. With CRS you will be reported to ever country after ever change of address with a bank. Even if no tax is owed you could end up with i.e half a dozen countries you moved...

www.offshorecorptalk.com

Country of income - how is it defined for online services

This post Becoming a Digital Nomad - Advice Please mentions that it's significant where is the most of your income coming from. And this note gave me a bit new perspective. Say I'm sitting in my living room in EU and making money by betting on Asian sport bookmakers and a few licensed in Malta...

www.offshorecorptalk.com

 

[zzzzzz]

Here is a prediction. Tax reporting to EU for all EU citizens regardless of where they live outside the EU will occur. You will be forced to pay tax at the rate of your EU passport country with a tax credit given for tax paid in your non-EU resident country . The same will apply to income tax hungry UK.

What about dual EU citizens? Or dual USA and EU citizen?

 

[Fred]

Banks in UAE treat you as a local as you have Emirates ID and they do not report CRS (I've seen guy unticking that without even asking me in front of my eyes, and in the app it's disabled)...

BUT

Some countries use other tactics to find people evading taxes... for instance Germany that bought illegal records from UAE for 2M so they could hunt down those hiding there (source: Germany buys Dubai data to track possible tax evasion)... So maybe UK will do that in the future and you can end up in jail and having problems.

I would stay out of UK more than 6 months a year just in case...

That's how it's working - on this German Announcement nothing followed by the way - it was just a push of Olaf Scholz as Finance Minister to get good rates for his German President election.

 

[JimBeam]

That's how it's working - on this German Announcement nothing followed by the way - it was just a push of Olaf Scholz as Finance Minister to get good rates for his German President election.

I didn't follow up with the story...

In a way It's good that nothing happened... but it also raises the question what did they bought for 2M and who got the money... but that's another topic...

What about dual EU citizens? Or dual USA and EU citizen?

Good question.
I'd like to hear more thoughts on this one.
Especially if you have different names in passports

 

[Martin Everson]

What about dual EU citizens? Or dual USA and EU citizen?

You need to look at your own EU countries rules as some have even Exit Taxation on personal wealth like Poland. How a country deems you no longer tax resident will vary between countries.

As for US or citizenship no comment.