How to stop being a UK tax resident when moving to Dubai

Moving to Dubai does not automatically make you non-resident in the UK. HMRC decides whether you are still a UK tax resident by applying the Statutory Residence Test (SRT), not by the address on your Dubai tenancy contract. If you remain resident, you are generally taxed in the UK on your worldwide income and gains, even though the Emirates have no personal income tax.

The Dubai case also has a particularity: the UK-UAE tax treaty does give British expats tie-breaker rules, but it neither covers inheritance tax nor stops the charge on gains if you come back within five years. That is why the move has to be planned, not just made.

This guide explains when HMRC treats you as resident, what happens in the tax year you leave, what applies instead of an exit tax and the steps to move your tax residency to the UAE with everything documented.

When HMRC treats you as UK tax resident

Since 6 April 2013, residence is decided tax year by tax year under the SRT (Schedule 45 to the Finance Act 2013). The tests apply in order, and the first that gives an answer settles it:

A day counts if you are in the UK at midnight. The ties test causes most surprises: a spouse who stays in the UK as a UK resident is a family tie; a UK home available to you for 91 days in a row is an accommodation tie if you sleep there even one night, owned or not; and the 90-day tie looks back two tax years, so if you lived in the UK last year, you will have it in your first year in Dubai.

The UK-UAE treaty protects you, with limits

When two countries both treat you as resident, a treaty tie-breaker decides. The UK-UAE treaty, signed on 12 April 2016 and in force since 25 December 2016, does not require UAE nationality: under Article 4, a UAE resident is any individual who, under UAE law, is domiciled in the UAE or has their habitual abode or centre of vital interest there. A British national living in Dubai can qualify.

If the SRT still makes you UK resident, Article 4(3) looks in turn at permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode and nationality. If it points to the UAE, the treaty limits UK taxation: gains on most shares, for example, become taxable only in the UAE. But income and gains from UK property can still be taxed in the UK, and the treaty covers income tax, corporation tax and capital gains tax, not inheritance tax.

Even so, a tie-breaker is a defence in a dispute, not a plan. The robust strategy is to be non-resident under the SRT itself.

No tax haven rule in the UK, but inheritance tax follows you

UK law does not keep you taxable for extra years because you move to a low-tax country: the SRT has no list of jurisdictions and applies equally to Dubai and Dublin. What does have a tail is inheritance tax. Since 6 April 2025 it depends on long-term UK residence, not on domicile: if you were UK resident in at least 10 of the previous 20 tax years, your assets outside the UK are also within its scope.

That status survives your departure. With 13 years of residence or fewer out of the last 20, you keep it for 3 tax years after leaving; each additional year adds one, up to 10 tax years for someone resident in all 20. HMRC counts a split year as a full year of residence for this test, and transitional rules apply to some people non-resident in 2025 to 2026.

The tax year you leave: the date matters

The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April and residence covers the whole year, but split year treatment divides the year of departure into a UK part and an overseas part if you fit one of these cases:

Case 2 covers a partner who moves abroad with someone starting full-time work there. In every case you must have been UK resident the previous tax year and be non-resident the next. What closes your last year as a resident:

• The residence pages. Split year treatment, and any treaty relief as a dual resident, go on the SA109 pages of your Self Assessment return, which HMRC’s online service does not accept: file by post (deadline 31 October) or with commercial software.
• The 90-day tie. More than 90 days in the UK in the year you leave gives you a 90-day tie in each of the next two tax years.
• What you leave in the UK is still taxed in the UK. Under the Non-resident Landlords Scheme, your letting agent or tenant deducts basic rate tax from UK rent unless HMRC approves gross payment (form NRL1i). Selling a UK home must be reported within 60 days of completion, even with no tax to pay.

No exit tax, but the five-year rule on gains

The UK has no general exit tax for individuals: leaving does not, by itself, trigger tax on your unrealised gains. Instead, the temporary non-residence rules tax certain gains and income if you come back too soon. They apply if:

• You had sole UK residence (UK resident and not treaty resident elsewhere) in at least 4 of the 7 tax years before the year you leave.
• Your period of non-residence lasts 5 years or less.

Then gains made while abroad on assets you owned when you left are taxed in the year you return, as is certain income received abroad, such as distributions from closely controlled companies. The law says no tax treaty prevents this capital gains tax charge, so the treaty does not shield you. Unlike an exit tax, nothing is due when you leave, and after more than 5 years away those gains fall outside UK tax (UK property and land aside).

Step by step to move your tax residence to Dubai

1. Get legal residence in the UAE. With an investor or employment visa or a Golden Visa. We explain it in business residency in Dubai and on the Golden Visa page.
2. Meet the UAE criteria. Under Cabinet Decision No. 85 of 2022, you are a UAE tax resident if your usual place of residence and your centre of financial and personal interests are in the UAE, if you spend 183 days or more in the country in 12 consecutive months, or if you spend 90 days or more and, in addition to holding a residence permit, you have a permanent place of residence or an employment or business there.
3. Apply for the Tax Residency Certificate (TRC) from the FTA. It is the proof of your UAE tax residency. We handle it through UAE tax residency.
4. Tell HMRC you are leaving. If you do not normally file a Self Assessment return, use form P85 (online, or by post if you have not left yet). If you do file, tell HMRC through your return and the SA109 pages.
5. Manage your ties. Log your UK midnights, the days you work there more than 3 hours and any accommodation you keep available: these are the facts the SRT weighs.
6. Keep the evidence. Dubai tenancy contract or title deed, visa and Emirates ID, the record of your UAE entries and exits and your TRC for each year. If HMRC enquires into your residence, this is how you prove you met the SRT and, if needed, the treaty tie-breaker.

Plan before you move

Stopping being a UK tax resident is a process, not a form: it is decided by the date you leave, the ties you keep in the UK and the evidence you gather from day one. Doing it the other way round, moving first and thinking about HMRC later, is the most common way to end up taxed in the UK on income earned in Dubai.

At LorcaBase we advise you in English and Spanish on the UAE side: your tax in Dubai, residence and the TRC in the UAE. For the UK side, coordinate your move with a UK tax adviser. To see how taxes work once you are there, start with our guide to taxes in Dubai.