Hi there,

Am looking for a little advice about setting up a business in the UAE. I have actually started the process but still feeling a little confused.

I have an entirely online business, serving customers globally and am a UK resident. Setting up a business in Dubai makes a lot of sense for tax purposes but I do not want to relocate and live there, I want to remain living in the UK.

First and foremost, is this legal? I would intend my Dubai based business to pay me a personal salary, which I would pay my UK income tax on accordingly.

I have a company setting up the UAE business for me, including establishing a company bank account.

I want to continue charging my customers in GBP Sterling, but I cannot understand whether this is possible. Do banks exist in the UAE which accept Sterling? Such as HSBC? If anyone could give any advice about how they operate their business without everything having to be dealt with in AED I would appreciate any information.

Thank you so much

I came across a tax account recently online who handles these sorts of issues. It seems there are ways to take advantage of this even as a non-resident (resident is better of course).

I can't recommend them as I haven't even spoke to them yet, let alone checked them out but I would suggest it's always better to engage a pro for issues like this or you could find yourself in hot water with the tax man if you're UK resident with income overseas that you haven't set up properly yet.

Good luck with your banking. What freezone is it?

Will you have an office/employees in the UAE? If not then I can't really see the point if you won't be living there, you'll still have to pay UK income tax and corporation tax if you're generating the income and doing business solely from the UK from what I understand (https://www.gov.uk/government/public...dent-in-the-uk).

So what is the purpose of moving the company there?

Many of the UK cabinet have businesses etc set up in places like the Cayman Islands etc and get away with paying no UK tax on them, Rees-Mogg, or Sunak are the people to ask.

Interesting post! Could you kindly share progress in particular the tax efficacy and comfort around UK situation. Hong Kong is another option apparently although tax breaks are limited duration.