Executive Summary: GenZone has partnered with Global Tax Consulting, a UK tax practice led by Emma McDermott, ATT, so UK founders can plan both sides of a move to Dubai together. Global Tax Consulting handles the UK exit: your residence status under the Statutory Residence Test, split-year treatment and what you file with HMRC. GenZone handles the Dubai company, residency visa and banking. It matters because Dubai’s 0% personal income tax only helps once you are genuinely non-UK resident, and since April 2026 the UK has tightened the rules on dividends taken while you are abroad.
You have chosen the free zone, sized the visa package and found an apartment in the Marina. None of that tells HMRC you have left. The UK decides whether you are still a UK taxpayer using its own tests, and those tests don’t care where your trade licence was issued.
That gap is where UK founders get caught. We have formed more than 1,500 companies in the UAE, and a large share of those founders came from the UK. The pattern we see most often: the Dubai side is set up perfectly, and the UK side is half done. A family home still available in London, too many days back for board meetings, a large dividend taken in the first year abroad. Each one can quietly bring UK tax back into the picture.
So we have partnered with a UK tax specialist. This article announces the partnership and then walks through what UK founders need to get right on the UK side before and after the move, using the rules in force for the 2026/27 tax year.
Why GenZone Partnered With Global Tax Consulting
Global Tax Consulting is a UK tax advisory firm for people leaving or moving to the UK. It was founded in 2023 by Emma McDermott, ATT, after working at Deloitte. The firm is an HMRC-registered tax agent, is supervised for anti-money laundering by the Association of Taxation Technicians, and works entirely online on fixed fees. Its work covers residence assessments under the Statutory Residence Test, non-resident Self Assessment returns, international tax planning and Capital Gains Tax on UK property, for clients in more than 50 countries.
Each firm stays in its own lane, and you get one plan that covers both sides.
| Topic | Global Tax Consulting (UK side) | GenZone (Dubai side) |
|---|---|---|
| Your status | Your residence position under the Statutory Residence Test | Two-year UAE residency visa and Emirates ID |
| Your first year | Whether split-year treatment applies in your leaving year | Free zone or mainland company and trade licence |
| Your money | Timing of dividends, asset sales and company closure around the five-year rule | UAE business bank account applications |
| Your filings | What to tell HMRC, and your UK tax returns after you leave | UAE corporate tax, VAT and accounting once you are operating |
“Most UK founders arrive in Dubai thinking the hard part is the licence. It isn’t. The hard part is leaving the UK properly, and that needs a UK tax adviser, not a setup company guessing at HMRC rules. Working with Global Tax Consulting means our UK clients get both sides done right, in the right order.” Kevin McKenzie, Co-Founder, GenZone
Global Tax Consulting and GenZone are separate, independent businesses, and each is responsible for its own services.
The Short Answer: What Has Changed for UK Founders in 2026
- There is still no UK exit tax. The government considered one in the Autumn Budget 2025 and decided against it, and the Autumn Budget 2026 on 28 October introduced no exit charge for individuals.
- Dividends taken while abroad are now caught. For anyone returning to the UK on or after 6 April 2026, all distributions from a close company received during a short period abroad can be taxed on return.
- Voluntary Class 2 National Insurance abroad has ended. From 6 April 2026, people living abroad can no longer pay cheaper Class 2 contributions to protect their state pension.
- Inheritance tax now follows residence, not domicile. Since 6 April 2025, a long-term UK resident stays inside UK inheritance tax on worldwide assets for up to 10 years after leaving.
None of this stops a move to Dubai. It changes the order you do things in, and what you need to have on record.
Step 1: Become Non-UK Resident Under the Statutory Residence Test
Your UK tax position starts and ends with the Statutory Residence Test (SRT). It is applied one tax year at a time, from 6 April to 5 April, and it works in three layers. HMRC checks the automatic overseas tests first, then the automatic UK tests, then the sufficient ties test.
The automatic overseas tests
If you meet any one of these, you are non-UK resident for that tax year:
- Fewer than 16 days in the UK, if you were UK resident in any of the previous three tax years.
- Fewer than 46 days in the UK, if you were not UK resident in any of the previous three tax years.
- Full-time work overseas: an average of 35 hours or more a week abroad, fewer than 91 days in the UK, and no more than 30 days on which you work in the UK for more than three hours.
The full-time work test is the one most founders rely on, and the one they break most easily. A day with more than three hours of UK work counts towards the 30-day limit, and that includes long calls and board meetings held while you are visiting.
The sufficient ties test
If no automatic test settles it, your status depends on how many days you spend in the UK and how many UK ties you keep. For someone who was UK resident in at least one of the previous three years, the thresholds are tight:
| Days in the UK in the tax year | You are UK resident with |
|---|---|
| 16 to 45 | 4 or more ties |
| 46 to 90 | 3 or more ties |
| 91 to 120 | 2 or more ties |
| More than 120 | 1 or more ties |
The five ties are family (a UK-resident spouse, partner or child under 18), accommodation (a UK place available to you for 91 days in a row that you use at least once), work (40 or more days with three or more hours of UK work), 90 days (more than 90 UK days in either of the previous two years) and country (you spent more midnights in the UK than in any other single country).
The common mistake: treating “under 183 days” as safe. A founder who keeps the family home and visits for board meetings can be UK resident on just 46 days.
Count days the way HMRC does
A day counts if you are in the UK at midnight. Days in transit between two other countries generally don’t count. But if you were recently UK resident and have three or more ties, a deeming rule can count your day trips too, once you pass 30 of them. Keep a calendar with flight records, passport stamps and a note of where you worked each day. If HMRC ever asks, your records are your evidence. For the UAE side of the same question, see our guide to UAE tax residency and the 90-day rule.
Step 2: Check Whether Split-Year Treatment Applies
Without split-year treatment, you are either UK resident for the whole tax year or not at all. Split-year treatment divides your leaving year into a UK part and an overseas part, so income you earn in Dubai after you leave falls outside UK tax. Three cases are relevant to founders who leave:
- Case 1, starting full-time work overseas. You meet the full-time work test from the day you start. The UK day and workday limits shrink with the month you leave: starting in April allows 90 UK days and 30 workdays for the rest of the year, starting in October allows 45 and 15, and starting in January allows 22 and 7.
- Case 2, the partner of someone in Case 1. You move abroad with your spouse or partner, and either have no UK home or spend more time in your overseas home.
- Case 3, ceasing to have a UK home. You stop having any UK home, spend fewer than 16 days in the UK for the rest of the year, and within six months become tax resident in the UAE or base your only home there.
Split-year treatment is not automatic or optional. You must meet every condition, and you must be non-UK resident in the following tax year too. A founder who returns too often in year two can lose the split year retrospectively.
Step 3: Time Your Dividends and Exits Around the Five-Year Rule
The temporary non-residence rules stop people leaving the UK, cashing out, and coming straight back. They apply if you were UK resident in at least four of the seven tax years before you left and you return within five years.
If they apply, certain income and gains received while you were abroad are taxed in the year you come back. That includes gains on assets you owned before leaving, distributions from close companies (which covers most owner-managed limited companies), loans to participators that are written off, and some pension lump sums.
The rule tightened this year. Before April 2026, dividends paid from profits a company made after you left were exempt. For anyone returning on or after 6 April 2026, that exemption is gone: all close company distributions received while temporarily non-resident can be taxed on return.
What this means in practice: if you plan to sell your UK company or pay out its retained profits from Dubai, you need to be confident you will stay away for more than five years. If there is a real chance you will return, plan the timing with a UK adviser before you take the money.
Step 4: Decide What Happens to Your UK Limited Company
Moving to Dubai doesn’t move your company. A company incorporated in the UK stays UK tax resident wherever its owner lives, so its profits remain inside UK corporation tax.
The risk also runs the other way. A company is UK resident if its central management and control is in the UK. If you set up a Dubai company but keep making its key decisions from London, HMRC can argue the Dubai company is UK resident too. Holding board meetings abroad doesn’t settle it if the real decisions are made somewhere else.
Founders usually choose one of three routes:
- Keep the UK company. Useful if you have UK clients or contracts. Dividends paid to you as a non-resident are generally treated as “disregarded income”, which limits your UK tax on them, but the five-year rule above can still apply. Fees for UK board duties can fall under PAYE.
- Close it. A simple strike-off gives capital treatment only if pre-dissolution distributions total £25,000 or less. Above that, a members’ voluntary liquidation is the usual route, with anti-avoidance rules if you carry on a similar trade within two years.
- Restructure. Move future business into a new UAE company while the UK company winds down its existing contracts.
The right answer depends on your contracts, retained profits and how likely you are to return. Business Asset Disposal Relief also changes from 6 April 2027, when the lifetime limit falls from £1 million to £500,000, which may affect when you close. If US customers are a big part of your business, compare the options in our guide to a US LLC vs UK LTD.
Step 5: Sort Out What Stays in the UK
Becoming non-resident ends UK tax on your overseas income and gains. It doesn’t end UK tax on income that comes from the UK. Check each of these before you go:
- UK rental property. Rental profits stay taxable in the UK. Under the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme, your letting agent, or your tenant if rent is over £100 a week, must deduct basic rate tax unless HMRC approves you to receive rent gross through form NRL1.
- National Insurance and your state pension. Voluntary Class 2 contributions for periods abroad ended on 6 April 2026. Class 3 now costs £18.40 a week (about £957 a year) and new applicants abroad need 10 years of UK residence or 10 qualifying years. If you already pay Class 2, you can switch to Class 3 without that test, but only if you apply before 6 April 2027.
- ISAs. You can keep your ISAs and their UK tax relief, but you can’t pay in once you are non-resident. Tell your provider.
- Pensions. You can keep getting UK tax relief on contributions of up to £3,600 a year for five tax years after leaving. Transfers to an overseas scheme can face a 25% overseas transfer charge, so get advice before moving a pension.
- Student loans. Tell the Student Loans Company if you will be abroad for more than three months, and complete an overseas income assessment. If you don’t, arrears build up on your account.
Step 6: Plan for Inheritance Tax, Which Leaves Slower Than You Do
Since 6 April 2025, UK inheritance tax depends on residence, not domicile. You are a long-term UK resident if you were UK resident in at least 10 of the previous 20 tax years. Long-term residents are taxed on worldwide assets, not just UK ones.
That status doesn’t end the day you move. It follows you for a “tail” of 3 to 10 years, depending on how long you lived in the UK. Someone resident for 13 of the last 20 years or fewer has a three-year tail; someone resident for all 20 has a 10-year tail.
A founder who has spent their whole adult life in the UK should assume their worldwide estate stays inside UK inheritance tax for a decade after the move. UK assets, including shares in a UK company, stay in scope permanently, and unused pension funds come into inheritance tax from 6 April 2027.
Step 7: Tell HMRC You Have Left
How you tell HMRC depends on your income. If you are leaving UK employment and won’t file a tax return, form P85 tells HMRC you have left and can trigger a refund. Most founders will file a Self Assessment return instead, because of dividends or other untaxed income. Your residence status, any split-year claim and any disregarded income claim go on the residence pages of that return (SA109).
Keep your evidence: the date you left, your Dubai tenancy and visa, a record of UK days and workdays, and proof that any UK home was sold, let or no longer available to you.
What the UK–UAE Tax Treaty Does and Doesn’t Do
The UK and the UAE have had a double taxation convention since 2016. It decides which country can tax which income when both could claim you, and it includes tie-breaker rules for residence. It does not make UK-source income tax-free. Under the treaty, the UK keeps the right to tax income from UK property, gains on UK land, directors’ fees from UK companies, and employment carried out in the UK.
There is also nothing in the treaty about returning to the UK. The five-year rule and the inheritance tax tail come from UK law, and the treaty doesn’t switch them off.
Where GenZone Fits
Once your UK exit plan is in place, GenZone builds the Dubai side. We have formed more than 1,500 UAE companies and 800 US LLCs, and helped open more than 3,000 business bank accounts for founders from over 50 countries.
- Your company: a free zone or mainland licence chosen around how you actually trade, through our Dubai company setup service.
- Your residency: a two-year UAE residency visa and Emirates ID, with family sponsorship, or a Golden Visa if you qualify.
- Your banking and compliance: bank application support, then UAE corporate tax, VAT and bookkeeping through our tax and accounting team.
- Your team: if you are hiring in Dubai, our HR and staffing service finds and screens staff, with a 60-day money-back guarantee.
- Your US customers: if you sell to the US, a US LLC can sit alongside your Dubai company.
Everything runs through GenZone LaunchPad, our platform for tracking your licence, visa, banking, documents and renewals in one place, with a named adviser behind every step. For costs, see our Dubai free zone cost breakdown.
The Bottom Line
Dubai’s tax position for individuals is as simple as it sounds. The UK side isn’t. Your residence status, your leaving year, your company and your dividends all need deciding before you take money out, not after. The 2026 changes make the timing matter more, not less.
That is why we now plan UK moves with Global Tax Consulting. You get a UK tax specialist for the exit and a Dubai team for the arrival, working to one plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will I still pay UK tax after moving to Dubai?
Possibly, on UK-source income. Once you are non-UK resident, the UK generally stops taxing your overseas income and gains, but UK rental income, directors’ fees for UK duties and some other UK income can stay taxable. Whether you are non-resident depends on the Statutory Residence Test, not on your UAE visa.
How many days can I spend in the UK after moving to Dubai?
It depends on your ties. If you work full time in Dubai, you can spend up to 90 days in the UK, with no more than 30 days working there for over three hours. Without that test, someone with three UK ties becomes UK resident at 46 days.
Is there a UK exit tax for people moving to Dubai?
No. The Autumn Budget 2025 considered and rejected an exit tax, and the Autumn Budget 2026 did not introduce one. The temporary non-residence rules and the inheritance tax tail are the main charges that can follow you after you leave.
What is the five-year rule?
If you were UK resident in at least four of the seven tax years before leaving and you return within five years, certain gains and income received while abroad are taxed in the year you come back. From April 2026, this includes all distributions from a close company.
Can I keep my UK limited company if I move to Dubai?
Yes, but it stays UK tax resident and pays UK corporation tax. A Dubai company managed from the UK can also become UK resident. Many founders run new business through a UAE company and decide separately whether to keep, close or restructure the UK one.
Does the UK–UAE tax treaty mean I pay no UK tax?
No. The treaty decides which country taxes which income when both could claim you. The UK keeps the right to tax UK property income, gains on UK land, UK directors’ fees and work done in the UK.
Do I need to tell HMRC I am leaving?
Yes. Most founders do this through their Self Assessment return, using the residence pages to claim non-residence or split-year treatment. If you are leaving UK employment and won’t file a return, use form P85.
Sources and Further Reading
- HMRC: Statutory Residence Test guidance (RDR3)
- HMRC: Split-year treatment (RFIG21000)
- GOV.UK: Temporary non-residence rules, post-departure trade profits
- HMRC: Inheritance tax and long-term UK residence (IHTM47020)
- HMRC: Company residence and central management and control (INTM120060)
- GOV.UK: Voluntary National Insurance abroad from 6 April 2026
- GOV.UK: Paying tax on rent to landlords abroad
- GOV.UK: Form P85
- UK–UAE Double Taxation Convention (2016)
- KPMG: Autumn Budget 2026 summary
This article is general information, not tax or legal advice. It reflects UK rules for the 2026/27 tax year as published at the end of October 2026. Rules change, and the right answer depends on your circumstances, so get advice for your own situation before you act. Global Tax Consulting is an independent UK tax practice and is not part of HMRC. GenZone and Global Tax Consulting are separate businesses, each responsible for its own services.
Planning a move from the UK? Book a free 30-minute strategy call with GenZone. You will leave with a Dubai structure, a cost breakdown and a realistic timeline, and we will bring in Global Tax Consulting for your UK exit plan. No commitment.
