A Tax Residency Certificate, approved the first time
Treaty or domestic, individual or company — we confirm which one you actually qualify for, build the file the FTA asks for, and submit it through EmaraTax on your behalf.
- Eligibility confirmed before you apply
- Filed through EmaraTax
Valid 12 months
One period at a time, renewed yearly
Usually about a week
At the FTA, once the file is complete
FTA fees from AED 500
Plus an AED 50 submission fee
Treaty & domestic
Both types prepared and filed
There are two certificates. Most people apply for the wrong one.
They look identical on the FTA portal and they are not interchangeable. Which one you need depends entirely on what you are going to do with it.
To claim a double tax treaty benefit
For use with one named country you have a tax exposure in, under the double taxation agreement between that country and the UAE.
- You must name the country when you apply — one certificate, one treaty
- Some countries also require their own form to be signed or stamped alongside it
- This is the one that reduces or removes withholding tax abroad
To prove UAE residency to anyone else
For everything that is not a treaty claim — where an institution simply needs evidence that you are tax resident here.
- Banks and financial institutions, including FATCA and CRS reporting
- Proving to a former home country that your residence there has ended
- Immigration and general administrative formalities
If you need to use it in two different countries under two different treaties, that is two applications. The first question we ask is not “are you eligible” — it is what you intend to do with the certificate, because that decides everything after it.
The tests the FTA actually applies
The rules are set by Cabinet Decision No. 85 of 2022, and they are different for a person and for a company. Choose which you are.
If you are an individual
Meeting any ONE of these three is enough — you do not need all of them.
Your home and your interests are here
Your usual or primary place of residence is in the UAE, and your centre of financial and personal interests is here too.
- No day count applies on this route
- It is a question of fact, so the evidence matters most here
Physical presence, in any 12 months
You were physically in the UAE for 183 days or more within any twelve-month period. Nothing else is required on this route.
- The days do not have to be consecutive
- Any part of a day in the UAE counts as a whole day
Fewer days, but with a UAE life behind them
90 days or more in any twelve-month period, and you are a UAE or GCC national or hold a valid UAE residence permit, and you have either a permanent home here or work or a business here.
- All three parts of this route must be true together
The day count is proved by an entry and exit report from the ICP or the relevant local authority — not by your own record of travel. That report is the single most common reason an otherwise good application is refused, because it has to support the exact period being claimed.
If you are a company
A juridical person is a UAE tax resident if…
- It is incorporated, formed or recognised in the UAE. Mainland or free zone, the entity itself has to have been created here.
- Or it is otherwise treated as a tax resident under UAE law.
- And it has existed for at least 12 months. A company cannot apply before it has been established a year — this catches out more new businesses than anything else on this page.
- A branch of a foreign company cannot be a UAE tax resident. It is not a separate juridical person, so it cannot hold the certificate in its own right, however long it has traded here.
Where the certificate is for a treaty claim, expect the other country’s tax authority to look past the certificate at whether the company is really managed and controlled here. We will tell you honestly if that is going to be a problem before you spend anything.
What the FTA charges, and how long it takes
These are the government’s own fees, paid to the FTA through EmaraTax. Our fee for preparing and filing the application is quoted separately and agreed before we start.
Fees for an individual
FTA fees — natural person
Paid to the Federal Tax Authority, not to us
Time
~1 week Typical FTA review, once the file is completeThe clock starts when the application is submitted with everything attached — not when you first ask. Most of the delay we see on other people’s applications happens before submission, waiting on an entry and exit report or a tenancy contract that was never certified.
Fees for a company
FTA fees — juridical person
Paid to the Federal Tax Authority, not to us
Time
~1 week Typical FTA review, once the file is completeFor a company the long pole is almost always the audited financial statements and a certified tenancy contract. If those exist and are current, a company application is usually the more straightforward of the two.
Fees are set by the Federal Tax Authority and are current at the time of writing; they are confirmed on EmaraTax at the point of submission. Timings are typical, not a service level the FTA guarantees.
“Almost nobody is refused because they were not a resident. They are refused because the file did not prove it.”
Ripple Accounting · DubaiThe file behind the application
Nothing here is unusual, but all of it has to be current, certified where it needs to be, and in the applicant’s own name.
Documents for an individual
Documents for a company
If something on this list does not exist yet — no audited accounts, an uncertified tenancy, a bank account opened three months ago — tell us at the start. There is usually a way through, and it is always cheaper to find it before the application than after a refusal.
Why applications get refused
The FTA rarely disputes that someone lives here. What it disputes is whether the file in front of it proves the specific thing being claimed.
The entry and exit report does not support the day count
The period on the report has to cover the period being claimed, and the total has to reach the threshold on its own. A report that starts halfway through the year cannot prove 183 days in that year, however many days you were actually here.
A branch applied instead of the company
A branch of a foreign entity is not a separate juridical person, so it cannot be a UAE tax resident in its own right. This is refused on principle, not on evidence, and no amount of supporting documents will change it.
The company is less than twelve months old
A juridical person has to have been established for at least a year before it can apply. New groups setting up in the UAE routinely try in month three and are refused, then assume something is wrong with the structure.
A treaty certificate applied for without naming the country
A treaty certificate exists for one agreement with one country. Applying “for a treaty” generally, or naming a country with no agreement in force, does not produce a usable certificate — and sometimes produces the wrong one entirely.
Documents in the wrong name, or out of date
A tenancy contract in a spouse’s name. A lease that expired last quarter. Bank statements that stop two months before the period being claimed. An uncertified tenancy where a certified one was required. Individually each looks trivial; together they are the single largest category of refusal we are asked to fix, and every one of them is avoidable before submission.
Four steps, and you are not the one filing
Eligibility and purpose
What the certificate is for, which country, and which of the tests you actually meet — established before anything is paid.
Build the file
We tell you exactly what to obtain, chase the entry and exit report, and check every document is current, certified and in the right name.
Submit on EmaraTax
Filed on your behalf, with the FTA fees paid, and any query from the FTA answered by us rather than landing in your inbox.
Certificate and renewal
The certificate delivered to you, plus a reminder before the twelve months run out, because it does not renew itself.
Common questions
I have a residence visa. Is that not the same as being a tax resident?+
No, and this is the most common misunderstanding we deal with. A residence visa is an immigration status; tax residency is a separate test with its own criteria in Cabinet Decision No. 85 of 2022. A visa holder who spends very little time in the UAE may fail all three tests, and someone with no visa at all can still meet the first one. The visa is evidence on one of the routes, not the answer.
How is the day count actually proved?+
With an entry and exit report obtained from the ICP or the relevant local authority, not with your own travel records or passport stamps. Days do not need to be consecutive, and any part of a day spent in the UAE counts as a full day — so a day you arrived and a day you left are both whole days. The report must cover the exact twelve-month period being claimed.
Our company was set up eight months ago. Can we apply now?+
Not yet. A juridical person has to have been established for at least twelve months before it can apply for a Tax Residency Certificate. There is no way to shorten that, and applying early simply produces a refusal. If there is a deadline abroad driving this, tell us — sometimes the answer is a certificate in a shareholder’s own name instead, and sometimes it is that nothing can be done until the year is up, which is worth knowing now rather than after a fee.
How long does it last, and does it renew automatically?+
It covers one specific twelve-month period and it does not renew itself. A fresh application is needed each year, with documents current as at that year — which is why we set a reminder before it expires rather than waiting for the certificate to be asked for and found out of date.
Can you help if we have already been refused?+
Usually, yes. Almost every refusal we see comes down to evidence rather than eligibility: a report covering the wrong period, a document in the wrong name, a treaty request without a country, or an entity that was never able to hold the certificate in the first place. The first thing we do is work out which of those it was, because the fourth one means reapplying would only waste another fee.
Find out in one conversation whether you qualify
Thirty minutes, a look at your days, your documents and what the certificate is actually for — and a straight answer before you spend anything.
- Free first consultation
- No obligation
- Response within 24 hours