Resident Person: juridical
- Applies
- FY2024 onwards
- Reviewed
- Rule
- UAE-CT-RES-JUR-2024.1
When is a company UAE tax resident?
When it is incorporated or established under UAE law, a free zone's included, or when a foreign company is effectively managed and controlled in the UAE.
Per Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, Article 11, Resident Person and Non-Resident Person
A juridical person is a Resident Person for Corporate Tax where it is incorporated or otherwise established under the laws of the UAE — under mainland legislation, applicable free zone regulations, or a specific statute or decree — or where, though incorporated abroad, it is effectively managed and controlled in the UAE.
Residence determines the basis of taxation: a Resident Person is within the charge on a worldwide basis, subject to the exemptions and reliefs that follow. Whether a foreign-incorporated person is effectively managed and controlled in the UAE is decided on its own facts, and is the subject of a separate rule.
The two routes to residence
Incorporated or established in the UAE
- Under mainland legislation
- Under applicable free zone regulations
- Created by a specific statute or decree
Foreign-incorporated, but managed and controlled here
A juridical person incorporated abroad is a Resident Person where it is effectively managed and controlled in the UAE. This is decided on the facts — a key factor being where the key management and commercial decisions on strategic and policy matters are regularly and predominantly made.
Order of testing
- 1
Inputs requiring your determination
Any input a person must decide and has not decided stops the computation. An undecided input is never read as a no.
- 2
Place of incorporation
A juridical person incorporated or otherwise established under the laws of the UAE — under mainland legislation, applicable free zone regulations, or a specific statute or decree — is a Resident Person. This route decides residence on its own, so the effective-management question is not reached.
- 3
Place of effective management
A juridical person incorporated abroad is a Resident Person where it is effectively managed and controlled in the UAE. What that requires is decided on the facts and is the subject of a separate rule; this rule takes the determination as an input rather than restating the test.
Examples
Illustrative scenarios — ours, not the authority’s — each computed live by this rule. Change any fact and the outcome is the rule’s, not a hand-written answer.
UAE-incorporated company
A company incorporated in Dubai under UAE mainland legislation.
Computed
Meets the Resident Person test as computed: the juridical person is incorporated or otherwise established under the laws of the UAE, based on the determination you supplied.
Decided by the place of incorporation
Foreign company run from the UAE
A company incorporated in the Cayman Islands whose board meets in Dubai and takes its key management and commercial decisions there.
Computed
Meets the Resident Person test as computed: a foreign-incorporated juridical person that is effectively managed and controlled in the UAE, based on the determination you supplied.
Decided by the place of effective management
Foreign company, foreign management
A company incorporated and managed entirely in Germany, with no key decisions taken in the UAE.
Computed
Does not meet the Resident Person test as computed on these grounds: the juridical person is neither incorporated under the laws of the UAE nor effectively managed and controlled in the UAE, based on the determinations you supplied.
Decided by the place of effective management
Try it
Supply the facts and this rule computes the outcome in your browser, live. Leave a determination undecided and it blocks the result — it is never read as a no.
Not computed yet
1 input still need your determination:
- Is the juridical person incorporated or otherwise established under the laws of the UAE — under mainland legislation or applicable free zone regulations, or by a specific statute or decree?
Computed in your browser from the figures you supply. Nothing is sent anywhere, and the result is a computation against a rule — reference, not tax advice.
Sources
Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, Article 11 — Resident Person and Non-Resident Person
Primary statutory basis: a juridical person incorporated or otherwise established under UAE legislation, or foreign-incorporated but effectively managed and controlled in the UAE, is a Resident Person
https://mof.gov.ae/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Federal-Decree-Law-No.-47-of-2022-EN.pdfFTA — Corporate Tax topic: Resident Juridical Person
Source the encoding was read from, archived and checked daily
https://tax.gov.ae/en/taxes/corporate.tax/corporate.tax.topics/resident.juridical.person.aspxArchived 2026-09-19 · checked daily