United Arab Emirates

Research notes

United Arab Emirates — family-office tax dossier

Last reviewed: 2026-10-16 Tax year: 2026 Reviewer: research agent (Claude), unreviewed by a tax adviser

Summary

Federal level: no personal income tax, so no tax on capital gains, dividends or interest for individual investors; no inheritance, gift or wealth tax. Corporate Tax is 9% above AED 375,000 (0% for Qualifying Free Zone Persons on qualifying income; 15% Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax for MNE groups with EUR 750m+ revenue from 2025); VAT 5%. Emirate level: property registration fees (Dubai 4%), municipality fees on rent, and the common-law financial free zones DIFC (Dubai) and ADGM (Abu Dhabi) with their own courts and will registries. Main planning issue: forced heirship (Sharia for Muslims; a statutory 50/50 spouse/children split for non-Muslims without a registered will). No US tax treaty, so US dividends held directly bear 30% US WHT.

Residence and eligibility

Cabinet Decision No. 85 of 2022 (in force 1 March 2023), clarified by Ministerial Decision 27/2023: an individual is UAE tax resident if (a) their usual or primary place of residence and centre of financial and personal interests is in the UAE; or (b) they are physically present 183 days or more in a 12-month period; or (c) they are present 90 days or more in a 12-month period, are a UAE/GCC national or hold a UAE residence permit, and have a permanent place of residence or employment/business in the UAE. Part days count as full days. Tax Residency Certificate (FTA via EmaraTax): AED 50 submission fee plus AED 1,000 for an electronic certificate for an individual without a CT number; covers a current or past calendar year or 12-month period, never a future one; processing about 10 business days. Evidence: Emirates ID, passport with official entry/exit report, and for the 90-day and centre-of-interests tests proof of residence/employment/interests.

• Golden Visa - investor (public investment, e.g. deposit/fund) (EU, US, OTHER): 10-year renewable residence visa per u.ae; minimum capital AED 2,000,000. Can sponsor spouse and children; may stay outside the UAE beyond the usual 6-month limit. Minimum: 2,000,000 AED.
• Golden Visa - real estate investor (EU, US, OTHER): Property worth at least AED 2,000,000. The federal portal u.ae (updated 28 Jul 2026, citing ICP) lists this category as a 5-year renewable visa (10 years only for public investment); ICP describes Golden Residence as 5 to 10 years. Many advisers and the Dubai Land Department channel describe a 10-year property visa since 2022: the official federal statement is 5 years, so plan on 5 and confirm the term at application. Family can be sponsored. Minimum: 2,000,000 AED.
• Ordinary investor / employment / company-owner residence (EU, US, OTHER): 2-3 year residence visas through a mainland or free zone company (e.g. a DIFC/ADGM family office entity) or employment. Requires presence at least once every 6 months (not Golden Visa).

Golden Visa term for property (checked 2026-10-15): the federal portal u.ae (page updated 28 Jul 2026, citing ICP) lists investors as 10 years for public investments and 5 years for real estate, with minimum capital AED 2 million. ICP's Golden Residence page says 5 to 10 years without splitting by category. The widely reported 10-year property visa could not be confirmed from an official page, so the JSON treats the property route as 5 years (renewable).

Capital gains

No personal income tax and no capital gains tax for individuals. Gains on listed or private shares, bonds and real estate held as personal investments are untaxed.

• Rate basis: No personal income tax (PwC, Sep 2026). Cabinet Decision 49/2023 Art. 2(2) excludes Personal Investment income and Real Estate Investment income of natural persons from Corporate Tax. All rates 0.
• Professional trader: Low risk for a private investor. Investing on personal account that needs no licence is Personal Investment, outside Corporate Tax. A licensed trading or investment-management business would be taxed at 9% above AED 375,000 of profit once turnover exceeds AED 1m.
• Foreign assets: Foreign gains untaxed. No exit tax.
• Thresholds: Natural persons are within UAE Corporate Tax only if they run a business with turnover above AED 1,000,000 in a calendar year; wage, personal investment income and real estate investment income are excluded regardless of amount (Cabinet Decision 49/2023, Art. 2).
• Conditions: Applies to all individuals, resident or not.
• Regional differences: None: there is no emirate-level income tax.
• Important exceptions: Personal Investment income is excluded from Corporate Tax only if the activity does not require a licence from a UAE licensing authority. Running a licensed business, or trading activity that requires a licence, can bring a natural person into 9% Corporate Tax. Real estate disposals carry emirate land registration fees (Dubai 4% of value on third-party sales, usually paid by the buyer), not a gains tax.
• Confidence: high (verified), verified 2026-10-15.
• JSON numbers: headline 0.0; listed domestic 0.0, listed foreign 0.0, private business 0.0, local real estate 0.0, foreign real estate 0.0.

Property transfer fees by emirate: Dubai Land Department 4% of value on third-party sales, usually paid by the buyer, and possibly on transfers of shares in property-owning entities (PwC). Abu Dhabi is commonly reported at 2% (RAALC via Mondaq: 'typically 2%' above AED 500,000, paid by the buyer; Executive Council Resolution 49/2018 is cited by secondary sources) but this was not confirmed from an ADREC/TAMM fee schedule. Other emirates: see ARE-regions.md.

Dividends

Dividends are not taxed in the UAE. The only cost is foreign withholding tax at source; the UAE has about 110 tax treaties but none with the United States, so US dividends held directly suffer 30% US WHT.

• Rate basis: No personal income tax; personal investment income excluded from Corporate Tax for natural persons (Cabinet Decision 49/2023).
• Outbound WHT: 0% domestic WHT on dividends paid by UAE companies to non-residents (PwC).
• Treaty network: About 110 double tax treaties in force (PwC list, may be incomplete), covering most of the EU, UK, Switzerland, Japan, Singapore, Canada, China and India. No treaty with the United States. A Tax Residency Certificate from the FTA is needed to claim treaty rates.
• Holding companies: UAE companies pay 9% Corporate Tax above AED 375,000; a participation exemption for dividends and gains on qualifying shareholdings exists (conditions not verified in this pass). ADGM/DIFC foundations can be used to hold family assets; tax transparency elections exist for family foundations under the CT law (not verified from a primary source here).
• Important exceptions: No UAE-US income tax treaty: US-source dividends paid directly to a UAE resident non-US person bear 30% US withholding. Many UAE families hold US equities through Irish-domiciled UCITS funds (15% US WHT at fund level under the Ireland-US treaty); that is a structuring choice, not a UAE rule.
• Confidence: high (verified), verified 2026-10-15.
• JSON numbers: domestic 0.0, foreign gross 0.0, credit method not_applicable.

Inheritance and gifts to children

No inheritance, estate or gift tax. Children inherit tax-free. Forced heirship (Sharia for Muslims; the 2023 civil personal status law for non-Muslims without a will) governs who inherits UAE assets, so registered wills are essential.

• Gift tax: None. Lifetime gifts to children are not taxed. Gifts of UAE real estate trigger emirate land registration procedures (fees for gifts between relatives not verified).
• Foreign assets: No UAE tax on foreign assets inherited or gifted. Succession to foreign assets is governed by the law of where they are situated and by the will.
• Domicile rules: Not relevant for tax. For succession, religion and (for non-Muslim foreigners) the choice of nationality law matter.
• Thresholds: No tax, so no thresholds.
• Conditions: None for the tax exemption. Testamentary freedom for non-Muslims depends on a registered will (DIFC, ADGM, or local court).
• Regional differences: No emirate levies inheritance tax. Abu Dhabi has its own non-Muslim personal status law (2021) and the ADGM will registry; Dubai has the DIFC Courts Wills Service. Emirate land departments charge registration fees when inherited real estate is transferred into heirs' names (rates per emirate; not verified for inheritance transfers).
• Important exceptions: MATERIAL PLANNING ISSUE - forced heirship, not tax. (1) Muslims: Sharia fixed shares apply to the estate (sons typically receive twice a daughter's share; spouse and parents have fixed fractions; only up to one third may be left freely by will to non-heirs). A will cannot opt out of this for a Muslim testator. (2) Non-Muslims: since 1 Feb 2023 Federal Decree-Law 41/2022 (civil personal status) applies by default: without a will, 50% to the surviving spouse and 50% split equally among the children regardless of gender; with no children, parents, then siblings (Trowers). Foreign heirs may ask for the law of the deceased's nationality to apply, but not against a registered will (Art. 11(3), per law-firm commentary). Abu Dhabi has had a similar non-Muslim personal status law since 2021 (Abu Dhabi Law No. 14/2021, per Withers); ADGM Courts register non-Muslim wills. (3) Wills: the DIFC Courts Wills Service registers English-language common-law wills (Full Will AED 10,000, mirror wills AED 15,000 for a couple; guardianship clauses for minors resident in Dubai or Ras Al Khaimah). Withers notes the post-2023 rules are recent and untested, that jointly owned assets with a Muslim are subject to Sharia, and that transferring land through trusts or wills is restricted under local law. In practice a non-Muslim family should register wills (DIFC or ADGM) and consider an ADGM/DIFC foundation for the portfolio; bank accounts in the deceased's sole name are commonly frozen until a court succession order (not verified from a primary source). (4) The family's home-country inheritance tax may still apply (e.g. citizenship-based US estate tax, or tails of the former residence country).
• Confidence: high (partially_verified), verified 2026-10-15.
• JSON numbers: basis none, children fully_exempt, exemption 0, brackets none, other transfer cost 0.0.

Wealth tax

No net wealth tax and no recurring tax on financial assets.

• Property taxes: No property tax on capital value. Dubai municipality fee: 5% of annual rental value for residential property (tenant pays; owner if not rented). Other emirates charge similar fees at their own rates.
• Regional differences: Emirates levy a municipality fee on residential property based on annual rental value (Dubai 5%, generally paid by the tenant, or by the owner-occupier), collected with utility bills.
• Confidence: high (partially_verified), verified 2026-10-15.
• JSON: type none.

Special regimes

None. Every resident is taxed the same way; no special regime is needed because the standard position is already nil (see Open questions for announced changes).

Structure: DIFC family foundation (difc_foundation, added 2026-10-16)

A foundation under the DIFC Foundations Law (DIFC Law No. 3 of 2018) is a body corporate separate from its founder (art. 10(1)); a founder has no interest in it merely by endowing it (art. 27(4)); heirship rights under foreign law are not recognised against it (art. 15). Its use is succession and continuity, not tax.

• Tax: a foundation is a juridical person and so a taxable person by default (9% above AED 375,000). If it meets the five conditions of Corporate Tax Law art. 17(1) and the FTA approves its application (Ministerial Decision 261/2024; FTA Decision 5/2025), it is treated as a tax-transparent Unincorporated Partnership: its income is allocated to the beneficiaries, and a natural person's share is Personal Investment income outside Corporate Tax (FTA Family Foundations Guide CTGFF1, May 2025, sections 4.4, 7.1, 7.2). Distributions are disregarded (section 7.7). All rates in the JSON are therefore 0, the same as holding personally. The application must be made before the end of the tax period it is to apply from, and an annual confirmation is due within 9 months of each tax period (sections 8.2, 8.3).
• Without approval the foundation would pay 9% on portfolio dividends and gains; the participation exemption needs a 5% holding (or AED 4 million cost), 12 months and an investee taxed at 9% or more (PwC), which a listed portfolio of positions around EUR 500,000 generally fails.
• Running cost: not counted. The DIFC foundation licence fee is reported as nominal (USD 200-350; snippets of DIFC documents, not opened). Registered-agent and council fees were not found in an official source. The ADGM Foundations Regulations 2017 were not opened.
• Considered and not added: a UAE holding company (mainland or free zone) would pay 9% above AED 375,000 on portfolio income and has no tax benefit for a portfolio; a Qualifying Free Zone Person's 0% rate does not cover portfolio income.

Company taxation (kept separate from personal tax)

Federal Decree-Law 47/2022, for periods from 1 June 2023: 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000, 9% above. Qualifying Free Zone Persons pay 0% on qualifying income and 9% on other income. Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax of 15% for MNE groups with consolidated revenue of EUR 750m+ in two of the four preceding years, for periods starting on or after 1 January 2025 (Cabinet Decision 142/2024). Natural persons are taxed only on licensed business activity with turnover above AED 1m. No withholding tax on dividends paid out.

Free zones (e.g. DMCC, JAFZA) with the 0% QFZP regime subject to substance and de minimis conditions. DIFC (Dubai) and ADGM (Abu Dhabi) are financial free zones with English-language common-law courts, trust and foundation laws, and will registries; they host most single-family offices. Free-zone status does not change personal taxation (already nil).

Cost of living notes

City: Dubai.

• prime_rent_monthly: 50,322 AED (2026). Dubai Hills Estate, average annual rent of a 4-bedroom villa AED 603,860 (Property Monitor data, May 2026 YTD) / 12. 5-bedroom: AED 892,073 a year; Palm Jumeirah 4-bed AED 1,280,418; Dubai-wide 4-bed average AED 343,461. Source: Villa rental prices in Dubai (Property Monitor data, May 2026 YTD).
• intl_school_annual_fee: 110,305 AED (2026). Dubai College (British curriculum, KHDA-regulated), Years 12-13 annual tuition 2026-27 (Years 9-11: AED 97,415); plus 5% annual re-registration fee. Source: Dubai College - School fees 2026-2027.
• Rent is an average asking/contract rent from Property Monitor data published by Engel & Völkers, for Dubai Hills Estate (a prime family villa community). Abu Dhabi (Saadiyat 4-bed AED 558,000 a year) and Ras Al Khaimah figures are in the emirate file. Prime purchase prices, health insurance (mandatory in Dubai and Abu Dhabi) and housekeeper costs were not sourced; omitted rather than estimated.

US citizens: US citizens remain fully US-taxed. There is no UAE-US income tax treaty and no estate tax treaty, so there is no UAE tax to credit and no treaty relief; UAE tax is nil, so the US layer is the whole burden.

Open questions

• Official legislation sites (uaelegislation.gov.ae, elaws.moj.gov.ae) were unreachable; Decree-Law 41/2022 provisions rely on law-firm summaries.
• Golden Visa real-estate term: the federal portal u.ae (updated 28 Jul 2026, source ICP) says 5 years for real estate and 10 years for public investment; ICP itself says 5-10 years. The widely reported 10-year property visa could not be confirmed from an official page (Dubai Land Department page not found). Treated as 5 years.
• Abu Dhabi property registration fee (commonly 2%) not confirmed from an official ADREC/TAMM schedule.
• Prime purchase prices per m2, health insurance and housekeeper costs for Dubai not sourced.
• Official text of Federal Decree-Law 41/2022 (elaws.moj.gov.ae / uaelegislation.gov.ae) could not be opened (connection refused / 403); Article 11 intestacy shares taken from Trowers and Withers.
• Whether the new Federal Personal Status Law for Muslims (reported as Federal Decree-Law 41/2024, in force 2025) changed the default for non-Muslims who do not elect civil law was not verified.
• Land department fees on transfer of inherited property into heirs' names were not verified for any emirate.
• DIFC foundation: registered-agent, council and audit costs not found in an official source; the structure's running cost is not counted. ADGM Foundations Regulations 2017 not opened.

Sources

• United Arab Emirates - Individual - Taxes on personal income (last reviewed 9 Sep 2026)
• Cabinet Decision No. 49 of 2023 on natural persons conducting business (AED 1m turnover; wage, personal investment and real estate investment income excluded)
• United Arab Emirates - Corporate - Withholding taxes (last reviewed 9 Sep 2026)
• United Arab Emirates - Individual - Other taxes (last reviewed 9 Sep 2026)
• UAE announces new Federal Personal Status Law (Federal Decree-Law 41/2022)
• Estate planning for non-Muslims and residents in the UAE
• DIFC Courts Wills - Full Will (fees)
• United Arab Emirates - Individual - Residence (last reviewed 9 Sep 2026)
• New Guide on Tax Residence and Tax Residency Certificates Application Procedure - Natural Persons (FTA guide TPGTR1)
• Issuance of Tax Certificates for Tax Residency
• Golden visa
• United Arab Emirates - Corporate - Taxes on corporate income (last reviewed 9 Sep 2026)
• Corporate Tax (Ministry of Finance)
• Dubai College - School fees 2026-2027
• Golden Residence (Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security (ICP), government): https://icp.gov.ae/en/golden-residence/
• Villa rental prices in Dubai (Property Monitor data, May 2026 YTD) (Engel & Völkers Dubai, professional): https://www.engelvoelkers.com/ae/en/resources/villa-rental-prices
• Taxation of Family Foundations, Corporate Tax Guide CTGFF1 (May 2025)
• Ministerial Decision No. 261 of 2024 on Unincorporated Partnership, Foreign Partnership and Family Foundation
• Foundations Law, DIFC Law No. 3 of 2018, Consolidated Version No. 3 (March 2024)
• United Arab Emirates - Corporate - Income determination (last reviewed 9 Sep 2026)

Change log

• 2026-10-15: initial research.
• 2026-10-15: data-quality pass: added Dubai prime villa rent (Dubai Hills Estate 4-bed, Property Monitor via Engel & Völkers); Golden Visa real-estate term checked on u.ae (5 years, updated 28 Jul 2026) and ICP (5-10 years), route text and open question rewritten; Abu Dhabi ~2% registration fee noted as unconfirmed; Dubai marker renamed (GeoNames city point, not DIFC).

• 2026-10-15: family rent re-checked against the upper-middle-class standard: kept.
• 2026-10-16: recipe pass: added the difc_foundation structure regime (tax-transparent under Corporate Tax Law art. 17; all rates 0) with sources; no change to the standard regime. Emirate file unchanged: no emirate levies a tax that differs.