If I move abroad, does my company's tax home move too?
A company set up in the UK is UK resident under UK law wherever you live. Only a tax treaty can move it, and if it does leave, it pays tax as if it had sold everything.
Your answer
Tell us where the company was set up and how it's run after your move to see our view.
About this calculator
For company owners moving abroad, for example to Dubai, who want to know whether their company moves with them for tax, and what it would cost if it did.
It's a rough view from a few answers. Where a company is really run is a question of fact that HMRC, and under a treaty both countries' tax offices, weigh on everything. The exit charge is an estimate from one figure for all the assets.
What happens to your answers
We don’t keep them. Your answers go to our server to do the sums and aren’t stored or logged. If you copy a link to your answers, they’re in the link itself, so only share it with people you trust.
How it’s worked out
A company set up in the UK is UK resident under UK law, wherever its directors live. A company set up abroad is UK resident if it's really run from the UK: where the highest-level decisions are made (central management and control). Board meetings abroad don't count if the real decisions are made by someone here.
If both countries say the company is resident, the treaty settles it. Many UK treaties go by where it's really managed (place of effective management). Others, including the UK–UAE treaty, leave it to the two tax offices to agree; until they do, it's resident in both. With no treaty, nothing settles it. If a treaty gives it to the other country, it stops being UK resident.
A company leaving the UK is treated as selling all its assets at market value as it goes, and pays Corporation Tax on the gains: the exit charge. Before it leaves it must tell HMRC, with a statement of the tax and how it will be paid. Spreading the charge over six years is only for moves to the EU or EEA.
Worked example
Not automatically: a company set up in the UK stays UK resident under UK law, but run from abroad it's at risk of being resident there too, and if it did leave the exit charge would be about £49,250.
2026/27 rules · set up in the UK · treaty: tax offices agree · one gain for all assets, no indexation or share exemption · a 12-month year, no associated companies · no assets kept in a UK branch
| The big decisions are really made abroad | Points abroad (+4) |
|---|---|
| Board meetings are held abroad | Points abroad (+1) |
| All the directors live abroad | Points abroad (+1) |
| Where it's really run: +3 or more is abroad, −3 or less is the UK | +6: Abroad |
| Set up in the UK: UK resident under UK law, wherever it's run | UK resident |
| How the treaty settles a company resident in both countries | Tax offices agree |
| Our rough view | Dual residence risk |
| What the company's assets are worth now | £300,000 |
| Less what they cost | − £100,000 |
| Gain if treated as sold as it leaves | £200,000 |
| Corporation Tax on the year's other profits of £0 | £0 |
| Corporation Tax with the gain added (19% to 25%, with marginal relief) | £49,250 |
| Exit charge if it does leave | £49,250 |
Worked out using HMRC's published rates for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027), on a yearly basis.
Questions people ask
If I move to Dubai, does my UK company become a Dubai company?
Not under UK law: a UK company stays UK resident. If you run it from Dubai it may be treated as resident there too, and under the UK–UAE treaty the two tax offices then have to agree. Until they do, it stays in UK Corporation Tax.
Can I keep my UK company if I live abroad?
Yes. Many owners do. Keep the big decisions and the board meetings in the UK, with minutes, for example with a UK-based director, so it's clearly run from here.
My company is registered abroad. Can it still pay UK tax?
Yes. If it's really run from the UK, it's UK resident and pays UK tax on all its profits. Even if it's run from abroad, it pays UK tax on the profits of any UK office or branch.
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