Guide
Tax on rent in the UAE
An individual who lets a home on an ordinary tenancy pays no tax on the rent in the UAE. Holiday lets and companies are treated differently.
Reviewed
Each term is defined in the glossary. All guides.
The position in one table
Who earns the rent, and how the home is let, decide whether the UAE taxes it.
| Who earns the rent | Tax on it in the UAE |
|---|---|
| An individual, letting on an ordinary tenancy | None |
| An individual with a holiday-home permit | Corporate tax, only if business turnover passes AED 1,000,000 in a calendar year |
| A company | Corporate tax at 9% on taxable income above AED 375,000 |
Source: UAE Ministry of Finance, Cabinet Decision No. 49 of 2023; Federal Tax Authority, corporate tax guide on real estate investment for natural persons, October 2024; UAE Government portal, corporate tax, read .
Take care
A summary of published rules, not tax advice
What you owe depends on your own circumstances and on where you are resident. Ask a tax adviser before you rely on any of this.
An individual letting on a tenancy
The UAE has no personal income tax, no capital gains tax and no yearly property tax.
Corporate tax can reach an individual who runs a business. Rent from letting property is left out of that test, whatever the amount, as long as the letting is not done under a licence and does not need one.
Registering a tenancy with Ejari is not a licence.
Holiday letting
Letting by the night is different. A holiday-home permit from an emirate’s tourism department counts as a licence, so the income falls inside the test for a business.
An individual is then taxed only if business turnover passes AED 1,000,000 in a calendar year.
Letting by the night without the permit does not avoid the test. The Federal Tax Authority’s guide treats an activity that needs a licence as a business whether or not the licence is held.
Buying through a company
A company pays corporate tax at 9% on taxable income above AED 375,000. Its rent is part of that income.
Take advice before you choose a company as the buyer.
VAT on the fees
VAT at 5% is added to the fees a buyer pays for services: the agent’s commission, the registration trustee, and the bank’s arrangement and valuation fees. The calculator counts each of them with VAT. What it costs to buy has the lines.
Tax where you live
If you are tax resident in another country, that country may tax the rent and the gain, whatever the UAE does. Ask an adviser there.
The calculator and a report take no tax off the rent or the sale. If you let by the night, buy through a company or are taxed elsewhere, read every figure as a figure before tax.