In short
- 137 treaties concluded. The Ministry of Finance held the texts for 121 countries on 9 October 2026.
- UK and French treaties: 0% at source on dividends, interest and royalties. India: 10% on dividends.
- The certificate costs a tax-registered applicant AED 550 and is issued within 10 business days.
- No treaty with the United States: a US payer withholds 30% on dividends paid to a UAE resident.
In this guide
What a UAE double tax treaty gives you in practice
A double tax treaty is an agreement between the UAE and another country on which of the two may tax an item of income, and how much. The UAE takes no tax from an individual's income and withholds 0% on payments abroad. For a UAE resident a treaty works in one direction: it limits what the other country takes.
- Dividends, interest and royalties: the tax at source in the other country is capped, at 0% in the UK and French treaties.
- Business profits: a UAE company is taxed abroad only where it has a permanent establishment, such as an office or a branch. A building site counts when it lasts more than 12 months under the UK and Dutch treaties, or more than six under the French one. Under the Indian treaty, consultancy delivered in India through staff for more than nine months in twelve creates one too.
- Salary: taxed where the work is done. Under the UK treaty a UAE resident who spends no more than 183 days in the UK in 12 months pays no UK tax on that pay. The employer must be outside the UK, and no UK branch may bear the cost.
- Pensions: under the UK treaty a pension, other than one for government service, is taxed only in the country where the pensioner lives.
- Two residences: when both countries treat you as resident, the treaty decides by your permanent home, then your centre of vital interests, then the place where you usually live, then nationality.
A treaty gives nothing by itself. The payer abroad applies its domestic rate until you prove that you are a UAE resident under the treaty, and the proof is a certificate from the Federal Tax Authority (FTA). We prepare that file for clients: see tax residency certificate in the UAE.
List of countries with a UAE double tax treaty: 137 agreements concluded
The Ministry of Finance counts 137 double taxation agreements concluded, and 193 when investment protection treaties are added. Its International Treaties Dashboard publishes the text of each agreement it has released. On 9 October 2026 the dashboard held agreements with 121 countries and four separate protocols. The table names 119 of those countries by region.
| Region | Countries with a treaty text on the dashboard |
|---|---|
| Europe | Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jersey, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom |
| Middle East | Bahrain, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Türkiye, Yemen |
| Caucasus and Central Asia | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan |
| South and East Asia | Bangladesh, Brunei, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam |
| Africa | Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| Americas and the Caribbean | Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Uruguay |
| Oceania | Fiji, New Zealand |
A country that is missing from the table may still have a treaty: look it up on the dashboard. The dashboard shows the texts and does not say when each took effect, so ask the tax authority of the other country whether the agreement is in force.
Withholding tax rates under six UAE treaties, the UK and India among them
The rates below are the ceilings each treaty sets on tax at source, for a recipient who owns the income and is a UAE resident under that treaty. The source country may charge less under its own law.
| Country | Dividends | Interest | Royalties |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 0%; 15% on dividends that a property investment vehicle pays out of rental income | 0% for individuals, listed companies, pension schemes and unrelated banks; another company needs the UK tax authority to accept that it was not set up for this relief | 0% |
| India | 10% | 5% on a bank loan, 12.5% on other interest | 10% |
| France | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Netherlands | 5% for a company that holds 10% or more of the payer, 10% for others | 0% | 0% |
| Switzerland | 5% for a company that holds 10% or more of the payer, 15% for others | 0% | 0% |
| Canada | 5% for a company with 10% or more of the votes, 15% for others | 10% | 10%; 0% on copyright, software, patent and know-how royalties |
The rates come from the treaty texts on the Ministry's dashboard. India's 10% on dividends was set by the protocol of 26 March 2007. The UK convention of 12 April 2016 has applied since 1 January 2017.
A worked example: royalties from India
A UAE company licenses a trade mark to a client in India for AED 1,000,000 a year and has no other income or costs. India may withhold up to 10%: AED 100,000. In the UAE the royalty is business income, and 9% on the part above AED 375,000 is AED 56,250. The UAE credits the Indian tax up to that amount, so the company pays nothing more and its total tax is AED 100,000. The AED 43,750 of Indian tax above the credit cannot be carried to another year.
The tax residency certificate you need to claim a treaty
The FTA issues a tax residency certificate (TRC) for the purposes of a double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA). It names the treaty country and covers one tax period or another 12 months, current or past, never a future one. In the same application you can ask the FTA to stamp the other country's own form, and the fee covers it.
| Applicant | FTA fees in total | Earliest application |
|---|---|---|
| Company with a corporate tax number | AED 550 | After 12 months of existence and three months into the period |
| Company without one | AED 1,800 | After 12 months of existence and three months into the period |
| Individual with a corporate tax number | AED 550 | Once the residence test is met |
| Individual without one | AED 1,050 | Once the residence test is met |
Each total is the AED 50 filing fee plus the fee for the certificate. A printed copy adds AED 250. The FTA completes a full application within 10 business days. An individual sends the passport, the Emirates ID, the entry and exit report and proof of UAE income. A company sends its license, lease, certificate of incorporation, certified memorandum of association and proof that it is managed in the UAE. The other country may also require that the applicant is registered for UAE corporate tax.
We do this for you Tax residency certificate in the UAE in 2 to 3 weeks
Who counts as a UAE resident: a person and a company
Each treaty defines a UAE resident in its own Article 4, and that definition decides the claim. Cabinet Decision No. 85 of 2022 confirms it: where an agreement sets its own conditions for residence, they apply for that agreement.
| Treaty | An individual qualifies when | A company qualifies when |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Domiciled in the UAE, or with a habitual abode or centre of vital interests there | Incorporated or recognised under UAE law |
| India | Present in the UAE for 183 days or more in the calendar year | Incorporated in the UAE and managed and controlled wholly there |
| France | Domiciled in the UAE | Established in the UAE or with its place of management there |
| Netherlands | A UAE national with a home or substantial presence in the UAE and closer ties to it than to any other state | Its place of effective management is in the UAE |
| Switzerland | Domiciled in the UAE with a substantial presence there | Incorporated in the UAE or effectively managed there |
| Canada | A UAE national with a home or substantial presence in the UAE and closer ties to it than to any other state | Incorporated in the UAE and wholly owned by UAE residents, or earning its income from an active business in the UAE |
An expatriate who lives in the UAE is not a UAE resident under the Dutch or the Canadian treaty, whatever the number of days. A company registered in the UAE and run from abroad fails the Indian test. The UK, Indian and Swiss texts also refuse a benefit when obtaining it was a main purpose of the arrangement.
Where a treaty refers to residence under UAE law, the domestic tests apply. A person is resident with 183 days in the UAE in 12 months. A UAE or GCC national or a residence permit holder is resident with 90 days and a permanent home, a job or a business here. So is a person whose usual home and centre of interests are here. A company is resident when it is incorporated in the UAE or managed and controlled from it. The day counts are explained in personal income tax in the UAE.
Is there a tax treaty between the UAE and the United States?
No. The UAE is absent from the Internal Revenue Service's list of US income tax treaties. A US payer withholds 30% on dividends, royalties and most other US-source income paid to a UAE resident, and no certificate lowers it. The two countries do exchange account data under a FATCA agreement signed on 17 June 2015 and in force since 19 February 2016.
Germany
Germany is not on the Ministry's dashboard either. Treat German dividends, interest and royalties as taxed at Germany's domestic rates until an adviser in Germany confirms a relief.
How treaties work with UAE corporate tax
- The UAE withholds 0% on dividends, interest and royalties paid to non-residents, so a foreign investor in a UAE company needs no treaty for those payments.
- A UAE company that paid tax abroad on income also taxed in the UAE takes a foreign tax credit, limited to the UAE tax on that income.
- Dividends from a foreign subsidiary are exempt in the UAE when the company holds 5% or more for 12 months and the subsidiary is taxed at 9% or more at home.
- Where a treaty in force and the corporate tax law disagree, the treaty prevails.
The rates, the registration and the yearly return are covered in corporate tax in the UAE.
How to claim treaty relief, step by step
- Find the treaty on the Ministry's dashboard and read two articles: the definition of a resident and the article on your kind of income.
- Ask the payer or the tax authority of the other country whether the treaty is in force and which form it wants.
- Meet that treaty's residence test for the period: days in the UAE for a person, incorporation and management for a company.
- Apply to the FTA in EmaraTax for a certificate that names the country, and attach the foreign form for stamping.
- Give the certificate to the payer before the payment. If the full rate was already withheld, claim the difference from the foreign tax authority.
- Keep the contract, the proof that the income is yours and the evidence of management in the UAE. Apply again for each new 12 months.
A claim starts with a company or a residence that the treaty recognises. We set up the company, as described on company formation in the UAE, and we apply for your UAE tax residency certificate.
