WiseBiology

[KevinClarke]

In recent years, tax residence issues have become very important when dealing with tax declarations for the government, banks and tax offices. Obtaining tax resident status in the UAE has grown in popularity for several reasons:

The UAE is set to join the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) later than most other countries — starting from 2018.
There are generally no taxes for corporate and private residents in the UAE on trading income, dividends, investments, bonds, etc.
The UAE offers vast opportunities for international businesses; companies are easy to incorporate and can be managed effectively.

Who can apply for tax resident status in the UAE?
A UAE tax residence certificate can be issued to an onshore company or a private individual, but you will need to become a UAE resident first. This can be achieved in one of the following ways:

You can register a company in your name. There are no requirements for this company to participate in active trading; basically, its main purpose is to support your tax residence status. This status is maintained on the basis of the onshore company, which must be renewed yearly.
You can buy real estate in the UAE worth over one million dirhams. The owner(s) must be a single private individual or a married couple. If there is more than one owner (or if the marriage of the couple is not officially registered), than each person must invest one million dirhams in the property. Our package offer includes applications for a residence visa with the option of annual renewal.
UAE onshore companies
Company incorporation in the UAE is fairly straightforward, and proven to be a great vehicle for international trading as well as for holding dividends and interest. A company set up for tax residence purposes cannot just be a shell, and you must maintain some turnover on the corporate bank account.

Note that only onshore free-zone companies in the UAE can be considered for tax residence purposes. Therefore, Ras Al Khaimah companies will not be of use in this respect.

If you decide to set up your onshore company in a free zone, consider the Umm al-Quwain free zone: unlike many others, it has no requirements for share capital or for statutory accounting and audit. As in all onshore UAE free zones, your company will require a special licence, depending on the type of activity you plan to carry out. An onshore company must also have a rented office — this service is included in our company package.
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International business advisory, tax planning, bank account opening, company registration included in wealth management suite by Confidus Solutions.