Answer a few questions about residence, relocation, ownership and where the company would actually operate. We match them against a supported country profile and turn the triggered rules into a sourced briefing for your advisor. Five minutes, in plain English — not a binding tax assessment.
Tobias Hieb · Founder, Foundster
Last reviewed 2026-08-25
What we check
A Dubai company can raise questions about personal residence, corporate management, CFC rules, exit tax, treaty access and UAE substance. Our check flags which of those topics are triggered by your answers, explains the source and gives you a concrete question for a qualified advisor. It does not calculate your final tax or replace individual advice.
Start your check
Best guesses are fine — we'll explain anything unclear in the report.
Supported tax profiles
Your selection determines the rules; the page language only determines the report language.
What we check for you
We apply a maintained profile for your selected tax country to the facts you provide. The result is a sourced briefing of topics to clarify — not a binding tax opinion.
We flag whether place-of-management or CFC rules may let your selected tax country tax or attribute income from the UAE company. A local advisor must confirm the final treatment.
Your relocation plan and expected UAE presence help us flag rules that may continue after a move. The check does not make a final residence determination; housing, family and other statutory ties need individual review.
We compare premises, work location, UAE presence and board-meeting location with the basic substance signals relevant to a Free Zone company. Qualifying-income status and the final 0%/9% treatment require a separate activity and transaction review.
Where the selected profile contains a relevant exit-tax or temporary-non-residence rule, we flag the topic and give you a precise question for your advisor. We do not calculate a liability or assume that moving alone triggers a charge.
We show whether a tax treaty with the UAE is active, expired or absent and explain why that matters. The report does not calculate treaty relief or replace advice on a specific payment stream.
For every identified topic, the report gives you a plain-language explanation, the underlying source and a concrete question for a qualified tax advisor. It is a briefing, not a personalised action plan.
Methodology
The legal rules behind every check come from country-specific profiles maintained by our team. Each profile is timestamped and cites primary sources — not blog posts, not Wikipedia. Germany's profile cites gesetze-im-internet.de and BMF circulars. The UK profile cites gov.uk guidance. The US profile cites the relevant IRC sections.
When the AI writes your report, it is strictly bound to the deterministic findings. It localises the explanation and formulates useful questions for your advisor, but it cannot add legal claims, scenarios or an action plan. Every finding carries the source you can look up.
We update country profiles every quarter and re-run our review whenever a major reform passes (UK's non-dom abolition in April 2025, US OBBBA 2026, Italy's flat-tax doubling in 2024, and so on). The report you see carries the version stamp of the profile in use at that moment.
This is a personalised pre-analysis. It is not legal tax advice. Foundster does not provide tax advisory services — we offer UAE company formation and connect you with specialists for the home-country side. For binding decisions, your local advisor signs off.
Common questions
We flag home-country claims on the UAE company, relocation and exit-tax topics, place-of-management and CFC exposure, basic UAE substance signals, and the current treaty status. Every finding includes a source and a concrete advisor question. The result is a focused briefing, not a final tax-residence or QFZP determination.
Forming a UAE company is generally legal, but its tax treatment depends on how and where it is actually managed and operated. The check flags CFC, place-of-management and substance topics; it does not decide whether conduct is lawful or replace jurisdiction-specific legal advice.
It can depend on UAE corporate-tax treatment, place-of-management and CFC rules in your tax country, and any applicable treaty. The check identifies which of those layers need attention; a qualified advisor must confirm the final treatment for your activities and transactions.
US tax law follows you everywhere. The US taxes citizens on worldwide income regardless of residency, so a Dubai company doesn't change your US filing obligation — you still file 1040s. GILTI/NCTI rules apply to US-owned foreign corporations (effective ~13.125% from 2026 under OBBBA). FATCA and FBAR disclosures are mandatory and missing them is its own offence. Renunciation triggers §877A if your net worth exceeds $2M. We spell out exactly what your obligations are.
Yes, if you're considering relocating. The non-dom regime is gone since 6 April 2025, replaced by a 4-year FIG regime for qualifying new residents. If you stay in the UK and form in Dubai, the Statutory Residence Test, CFC charge and HMRC's PoEM stance govern. We apply the post-April-2025 framework to your specific case.
The legal rules come from country profiles maintained by our team — citing primary sources (UK gov.uk, IRS IRC, German BMF circulars, etc.). The AI applies them to your situation but cannot invent rules; every finding has a source you can verify. We update profiles as legislation changes.
For binding decisions: yes. The check is a focused starting point — many users bring the report to their advisor as a brief, which saves expensive consulting hours. We're not a substitute for an advisor; we're what saves you time with one.
We currently offer the Tax Check for the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and Switzerland — the five jurisdictions where we maintain deep rule profiles with primary-source citations. If your country isn't on that list, please book a call with our specialist instead — we'll point you to a qualified advisor for your jurisdiction.
Two reasons: we send you a copy you can save and share with your advisor, and we can offer a free 30-min specialist call if you'd like one. We don't spam, and unsubscribe is one click.
Not a generic blog post. A sourced briefing of the home-country and UAE topics your answers flag, with clear questions you can take to a qualified tax advisor.
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