Moving to Dubai from Australia
Most Australians who move to Dubai come to build something: a new company, a regional base for the business they already own, or a home for consulting, trading or investing. The Dubai side is quick when it is done properly. The Australian side is where the money is won or lost. Neo Legal is the UAE practice of Cornwalls, one of Australia's oldest law firms, and we run the Australian exit and the Dubai set-up as one file.
Reviewed by Harly Zappino, Founder & Managing Partner · Updated
How do you move to Dubai from Australia properly?
Plan the Australian exit before you build the Dubai side. Australia taxes its residents on worldwide income and there is no Australia-UAE tax treaty, so the UAE's 0% personal tax only helps once you have genuinely stopped being an Australian tax resident. Then set up the Dubai company, residence visa and bank account so they support that exit. Neo Legal, the UAE practice of the Australian firm Cornwalls, runs both sides as one engagement.
Start with the Australian side
Australia taxes its residents on their worldwide income. Getting on a plane does not change that. You stop being an Australian tax resident only when you no longer meet any of the ATO's residency tests, and the domicile test in particular follows Australians who leave without settling somewhere new. Our guide to Australian tax residency after moving to Dubai walks through each test. The 183-day bright-line test announced in the 2021 Budget has not been legislated, so the existing tests still decide the question.
There is no comprehensive double tax agreement between Australia and the UAE. The Australia-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, in force since 1 October 2025, is a trade agreement and not a tax treaty. Without treaty tie-breaker rules, your position rests on a clean departure, not on relief claimed after the event.
Leaving has its own tax cost. When you stop being a resident, CGT event I1 treats you as having sold most of your assets other than taxable Australian property, unless you choose to defer, and our CGT exit calculator shows the effect. A foreign resident also generally loses the main residence exemption on the family home, which we cover in the main residence exemption on exit.
Then build the Dubai side
Your company
Australians can own 100% of a UAE company in a free zone, and on the mainland for most activities. The choice turns on who your customers are and where they are: a free zone company is built for international and free zone business, while a mainland company can trade freely across the UAE. Our guide on how to start a business in Dubai from Australia takes you through the steps, and free zone or mainland sets out the trade-offs.
Your visa
An Australian passport gets you into the UAE as a visitor, but living and working here needs a residence visa. Most founders take one through their own company as an investor or partner. Investors, entrepreneurs and senior professionals who qualify can hold a ten-year Golden Visa instead, which does not depend on a sponsor.
Your UAE tax residency
Under Cabinet Decision No. 85 of 2022 you are a UAE tax resident if the UAE is your usual place of residence and the centre of your financial and personal interests, if you spend 183 days or more here in a 12-month period, or if you spend 90 days with a UAE residence permit and a permanent home or a job or business here. A UAE Tax Residency Certificate is good evidence for the ATO, but it does not end Australian residency on its own.
Your company's tax
UAE Corporate Tax is 9% on taxable income above AED 375,000. A Qualifying Free Zone Person pays 0% on qualifying income, and Small Business Relief is available for revenue up to AED 3 million for tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026. Every company must register for Corporate Tax, including those that pay nothing.
The things that get missed
Your super and your SMSF
Your super stays in Australia and you cannot usually take it early because you have moved. The risk is a self-managed fund that stops meeting the residency rules once its trustees live in Dubai. A fund that becomes non-complying can lose close to half its value to tax. See super and your SMSF when you move to Dubai.
Your Australian company
An Australian company stays an Australian tax resident wherever its owners live, and a proprietary company must keep at least one director who ordinarily resides in Australia. Moving the business is a restructure, not a change of address. See moving your Australian business to Dubai.
A Dubai company set up before you leave
If you set up the Dubai company while you still live in Australia and run it from here, it can become an Australian resident company, and the controlled foreign company rules can tax you on its passive income in any event. See owning a Dubai company while living in Australia.
Family trusts
A family trust's residence follows its trustee and where it is managed. With an Australian trustee company it usually stays resident, but individual trustees who all move offshore can take the trust with them, which is CGT event I2. Check the trust deed and the trustee before anyone leaves.
Study loans
If you have a HELP or other study loan and will live overseas for 183 days or more in any 12 months, the ATO requires an overseas travel notification within 7 days of leaving and a report of your worldwide income by 31 October each year. The debt keeps being indexed while you are away.
Property and bank accounts you keep
Rent from an Australian property stays taxable in Australia, at non-resident rates with no tax-free threshold. Once your bank knows you are a non-resident, it withholds 10% from interest. Neither is a reason to sell, but both belong in the plan.
Your will
Assets in the UAE are best covered by a DIFC or ADGM will, drafted so that it sits alongside your Australian will rather than revoking it.
A timeline that works
- Six to twelve months before you leave: settle the residency strategy, decide what happens to the home, the SMSF, any company and any trust, and choose the UAE structure.
- Three months before: incorporate the UAE company (many free zones let you do this before you arrive), start the residence visa process and prepare the bank account application.
- Around departure: lodge the ATO overseas travel notification if you have a study loan, tell your banks and funds you are leaving, and put the home and investments in the position the plan calls for.
- First three months in Dubai: complete the visa medical and Emirates ID, sign and register your lease, open personal and business bank accounts and register the company for Corporate Tax.
- After your first year: lodge your part-year Australian return, apply for a UAE Tax Residency Certificate and keep the evidence of where you live, work and spend your time.
Why Australians use Neo Legal
Neo Legal is the UAE practice of Cornwalls, an Australian firm established in 1891, and nine of our lawyers are Australian-qualified. The Australian Desk is led by founder and managing partner Harly Zappino and founding partner Levent Shevki, CEO of Cornwalls, with Michael Kohn on international tax and Ellen Karakoussis on Australian tax. Our Emirati founding partners handle the UAE authorities, and our group's accounting arm, Neo Finance, keeps the books and the Corporate Tax filings once the company is running.
The failure we exist to prevent is an Australian accountant, a Dubai formation agent and no lawyer in the middle. We run the Australian exit through Cornwalls in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and the UAE set-up from Dubai, with one strategy, one point of accountability and one set of documents built for the day the ATO asks questions. More on the team is on our Australian Desk page and, for businesses expanding rather than relocating, our Australian business in the UAE page.
Moving to Dubai from Australia: questions we are asked
Planning the move from Australia?
Talk to an Australian-qualified lawyer in Dubai about the order of things: the Australian exit, the Dubai company and visa, and what to do with what you leave behind.
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