Strategic analysis on global tax architecture, corporate structuring, regulatory frameworks, and cross-border operations.
Forming the company is the easy part; banking it is where non-residents stall. High-street banks and most UK app banks want UK-resident directors. The providers that onboard from abroad each gate on where you live, and they differ on whether your balance is a protected deposit or safeguarded e-money.
Read the analysisOn death, a Dubai property owned by a long-term UK resident is caught twice: by UK inheritance tax at 40%, and by UAE succession law, which decides who inherits it regardless of an English will. The two regimes are independent, they answer different questions, and each needs its own plan.
Read the analysisA UK resident must declare the income and gains from a Dubai property to HMRC. The UAE now shares account data under the Common Reporting Standard, so undeclared rent and gains are discoverable, and the Worldwide Disclosure Facility is the route to correct past years before an enquiry does it for you.
Read the analysisSelling a Dubai property does not escape UK tax. A UK resident pays UK capital gains tax on the disposal, in sterling so currency movement is part of the gain, on the whole gain since purchase because there is no rebasing, at residential rates up to 24%, reported on the tax return.
Read the analysisA UK resident is taxed on worldwide income, so Dubai rental income is UK-taxable in the year it arises, whether or not the money reaches the UK. It is a foreign property business computed in sterling on the SA106 pages, and because the UAE charges no tax there is no foreign credit to reduce the UK bill.
Read the analysisThe assumption is that Dubai property is tax-free. In the UAE it broadly is: no income tax, no capital gains tax, no annual property tax, only the 4% transfer fee. For a UK-resident owner that settles nothing. The UK taxes the rent as it arises, the gain in sterling on sale, and the estate on death.
Read the analysisFounders should preserve equity, but preservation is not a refusal to use it. Dilution begins at incorporation, not at the first term sheet, and the cap table is an architecture of ownership, vesting, promises and capacity. Manage all four from day one, and spend equity where it genuinely changes the company.
Read the analysisAn ADGM SPV can hold digital assets passively without becoming a regulated virtual asset firm, but the wrapper is not free of consequence. It converts a gain the individual would receive outside UAE corporate tax into a 9% corporate charge, and for a UK-connected owner it is fully visible under crypto reporting rules.
Read the analysisWhether a DIFC or ADGM holding SPV pays 0% or 9% UAE corporate tax turns on the asset it holds, not the free zone address. Dividends and gains on qualifying shareholdings are usually exempt through the participation exemption; property income, low-taxed minority stakes and financing income are where the 9% lands.
Read the analysisWe do not exit when complexity enters. We stand by our clients through every regulatory shift, audit, and challenge. Unwavering support is the foundation of our firm.
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