{ "publisher": { "name": "Provedays", "url": "https://provedays.com" }, "license": "CC BY 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "attribution": "Provedays — provedays.com", "notice": "Rule data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Golden test fixtures, guide prose and the rule schema are not covered by this licence and remain all rights reserved. See https://provedays.com/terms/.", "documentation": "https://provedays.com/methodology/", "rule_id": "ae.tax.residency", "versions": [ { "rule_id": "ae.tax.residency", "version": "2026.1", "jurisdiction": "AE", "title": "UAE tax residency", "summary": "You are a UAE tax resident if any one of three limbs is met: you were physically present in the UAE for 183 days or more within any 12 consecutive months; or you were present for 90 days or more within any 12 consecutive months and you are a UAE or GCC national or hold a valid UAE residence permit and you keep a permanent place of residence in the UAE or carry on employment or a business there; or your usual place of residence and the centre of your financial and personal interests are in the UAE. Any part of a day counts as a full day, arrival and departure days included, and the days need not be consecutive. Residency underpins the Tax Residency Certificate issued by the Federal Tax Authority.", "evaluator": "ae_tax_residency", "determinative": true, "official_source_url": "https://tax.gov.ae/Datafolder/Files/Legislation/Corporate%20Tax/Cabinet%20Decision%2085%20of%202022%20-%20For%20publishing.pdf", "last_verified": "2026-08-30", "effective_from": "2023-03-01", "effective_to": null, "disclaimer_level": "standard", "convention": { "arrival_day_counts": true, "departure_day_counts": true, "part_day_counts": true, "transit_excluded": false }, "params": { "reference_period": { "type": "calendar_year" }, "countries": [ "AE" ], "ae_rs": { "primary_threshold": 183, "secondary_threshold": 90, "window_months": 12 } }, "attestation_defs": [ { "key": "ae.rs.legal_right_to_reside", "question": "Are you a UAE or GCC national, or do you hold a valid UAE residence permit (not a tourist or other temporary entry permit)?", "why_we_ask": "The 90-day limb applies only with a legal right to reside — Cabinet Decision 85/2022 expressly excludes temporary entry permits for travel, tourism, sport or medical treatment.", "type": "bool", "scope": "calendar_year" }, { "key": "ae.rs.permanent_place_of_residence", "question": "Do you have a home in the UAE — owned, rented, or simply made available to you — that you can occupy at all times, not just for short stays?", "why_we_ask": "A permanent place of residence is one way to complete the 90-day limb. It need not be owned or paid for, but must be continuously available with some permanency — a hotel booking or an occasional stay does not qualify.", "type": "bool", "scope": "calendar_year" }, { "key": "ae.rs.employment_or_business", "question": "Do you carry on employment or a business in the UAE?", "why_we_ask": "Employment or a business is the other way to complete the 90-day limb. A contract with a UAE employer or income for labour performed in the UAE counts; an unpaid voluntary role does not.", "type": "bool", "scope": "calendar_year" }, { "key": "ae.rs.usual_residence", "question": "Is the UAE where you normally or habitually live — the place where you spend most of your time as part of your settled routine?", "why_we_ask": "The first limb of the residency test has no day threshold at all: usual residence plus the centre of your interests is enough on its own.", "type": "bool", "scope": "calendar_year" }, { "key": "ae.rs.centre_of_interests", "question": "Is the UAE the centre of your financial and personal interests — your occupation, family and social ties, business, and where your property is administered?", "why_we_ask": "The first limb requires this together with usual residence. It is a facts-and-circumstances question your advisor would weigh.", "type": "bool", "scope": "calendar_year" } ], "notifications": [ { "at_count": 165, "at_fraction_of_limit": null, "message_key": "ae.rs.approaching_183" }, { "at_count": 80, "at_fraction_of_limit": null, "message_key": "ae.rs.approaching_90" } ], "notes": [ "Sources: Cabinet Decision No. 85 of 2022 Art 4 (issued 2 Sep 2022, effective 1 Mar 2023); Ministerial Decision No. 27 of 2023 Arts 2-6 (day counting, exceptional circumstances, permanent place of residence, employment); FTA Tax Procedures Guide TPGTR1 'Tax Resident and Tax Residency Certificate' (18 Oct 2024) §5.2. Verified unamended as of 2026-08-30.", "The day window is ANY 12 consecutive CALENDAR MONTHS (MD 27 Art 3(1)) — not a calendar year and not 365 days. The evaluator sweeps every candidate window and reports the best (SEMANTICS #21).", "Any part of a day, however brief, counts as a full day (MD 27 Art 3(2)); days need not be consecutive (Art 3(3)); no transit exclusion exists in the law or the FTA guide, so a layover inside UAE borders counts.", "Days labelled exceptional_circumstances are excluded from the count with no cap. MD 27 Art 4 makes the disregard DISCRETIONARY — the Authority 'may' disregard such days (an unforeseeable event arising while already in the UAE that prevents a planned departure). Labelling a day is asserting you would claim it.", "Attestations are matched against the calendar year containing the evaluation date even though the day window rolls (SEMANTICS #21; the FTA issues natural-person certificates against calendar-year tax periods, TPGTR1 §7.2).", "Procedural layer (not modelled here): Ministerial Decision 247/2023 governs treaty-purpose certificates; Cabinet Decision 174/2025 (from Jan 2026) moved TRCs to verified e-certificates and lets a natural person apply as soon as the criteria are met — which is what earliest_qualifying_date estimates." ] } ] }