Know your rights in the UAE

There is no personal income tax in the UAE. No deduction comes off your salary, there is no annual personal return to file, and your employment income is not reported to a tax authority. For most employees the tax system simply does not apply, and the questions that actually matter are about what you are owed rather than what you owe.

When an individual does owe corporate tax

Corporate tax reaches individuals only through business activity. If you hold a licence and carry on business in your own name, as a freelancer or through a sole establishment, you come into scope once your business turnover exceeds AED 1,000,000 in a calendar year. Registration is then required, with a deadline of 31 March of the following year.

What does not count toward that threshold matters just as much. Salary and other employment income, personal investment income, and personal real estate income are outside the scope. Someone earning a large salary and renting out an apartment has no corporate tax obligation from either.

Once in scope, the same rules apply as for a company. The first AED 375,000 of taxable income is at 0%, the rest is at 9%, and Small Business Relief is available where revenue is AED 3,000,000 or less, now running to periods ending on or before 31 December 2029.

What you are owed at work

End of service gratuity	21 days of basic salary for each of the first five years of service, then 30 days for each year after that, capped at two years' pay. Calculated on basic salary, not on your total package. Calculate it.
Annual leave	30 calendar days a year once you have completed a year of service, and 2 days a month between six and twelve months. Untaken leave is paid on termination. Check yours.
Overtime	Paid at a premium on your basic wage, with a higher premium for night hours and rest days. Work it out.
Final settlement	Gratuity, unused leave, notice and any outstanding wages, due when you leave. Estimate it.

All employment contracts in the UAE have been fixed-term since February 2022. If your contract still describes itself as unlimited or indefinite it should have been converted, and that is worth raising. The contract analyzer flags this and other clauses that no longer hold.

Visas and status

Residency questions sit next to all of this without being tax questions. Golden visa eligibility, family sponsorship income thresholds and the grace period after a visa is cancelled each have their own rules, and they are covered in the golden visa, family sponsorship and visa cancellation guides.

If a dispute with an employer is where you have ended up, the labour law guide covers the MOHRE complaint route and what to expect from it.