Husband wants to move to dubai

[Dilemma87]

My husband is a businessman in property and with the recent proposed tax changes and new rules putting limits on how long he can keep doing things from the UK, he’s now saying he needs to move to Dubai and operate from there.

We actually have some friends there, and his business partner is already based out there, so on paper it all sounds easy enough. His plan is to buy a second property in Dubai and move there by himself, while I stay here with the kids.

The problem is, the children are really settled one’s in high school and the other is due to start soon, so moving them just isn’t an option. He’s suggested that we (me and the kids) fly out to Dubai every school holiday to spend time with him.

The catch is, under his visa he can only be out of Dubai for 90 days a year, so he’d basically have to live there full-time.

AIBU to think this is just not going to work long-term? I can’t help but feel like this is the start of living completely separate lives.

You need to be careful with this from a tax perspective.

From a personal perspective there is not enough money in the world that would make me live apart from my husband, my kids and my myself, would hate it. We had to be apart for a little bit whilst we relocated and it was awful on all of us - we agreed not to do it ever again! And it seems there is also a trust issue - which I think really needs to be addressed regardless of any move. Good luck

Well that’s interesting because leaving aside those who come here without permission large numbers of legal immigrants are contributing - as their visas depend on ‘work’ whereas plenty of the natives here are busy grabbing as much as they can out the system - I’m no lover of mass immigration but it’s extremely simplistic to think ‘immigrants’ all need funding and take a lot out the system and that British nationals are all upstanding tax payers contributing willingly and never fleece the system as much as they can - this also is at both ends of the income spectrum, be it benefits or those hiding vast amounts off shore or in dodgy companies or phoenix in companies regularly to get rid of HMRC liabilities etc - this gvt have indeed put a lot of things into the mix with regard to business ( I know as I have one) and hence why you have media like the Telegraph desparate to get rid of a gvt that is getting tough on the very wealthy - also of course why they were pro Brexit etc ( EU tax avoidance legislation) -

I agree with this but to a lot of people it's not just about money. Goodhart points out that we're still quite chimp like in that a lot of people don't want to contribute taxes to prople they perceive as culturally different, especially new immigrants.

As I already said to another poster, I genuinely applaud people like you who are so strong willed to stick to their ideology despite the mess the government is making. I certainly am not. We took the opportunity earlier this year to move to a low tax country. Call me selfish. I'm only human and life is short. I want life to be enjoyable for our family. I want to be able to save properly for my retirement. Is it so unreasonable to the point of calling people scum (not you- other posters) to want a better life for your family?

Are you the kind of person who says that immigrants from poor & corrupt countries should stay and fight for change? I say that as someone very pro-immigration controls.

Maybe you are not. It's just fascinating to me that people often say that poor immigrants should be brave and try to change the poverty and corruption of their countries, but when taxes go up here, they think high earners are well-justified to flee the "sinking ship' rather than fight for change, not cowardly! 🤣

Depends what you want from life. I’ve retired after being PAYE my whole working life. Finished work at 61, paid off the mortgage and have enough money with my work pension to see me through to state pension at 67 and beyond. Both DH and I have enjoyed family life and friends we’ve met through the kids and work. That’s been important to me, DH and my adult children over and above money and material goods. If money trumps everything for you OP, go with the Dubai option.

The UN and the ICC have declared that what is happening in Gaza is a genocide. Some Israeli holocaust survivors have also said that the Israeli government is committing a genocide.

you still pay tax there , just no income tax , but you pay value added tax on everything , plus corporate tax , even content creators are subject to pay tax.

it’s not a frugal save up kind of lifestyle, it’s really expensive.
setting up two households plus all traveling back and forth is pointless.

I think a problem(I say this as a democratic socialist) is that people are ignoring that the gov has misused are taxes and wastes them, rather than improving services.

Also, people often see 'high earner' as 'billionaire'. I'm assuming that your concerns about your children were about education costs? I get that. Or something else? Sorry, I get if you don't want to give more info.

@Dilemma87- what type of residency visa is this as it sounds highly unusual? Most Dubai visas only require you to enter Dubai once every 180 days to be resident there. The real limit is likely to be your husband’s ability to spend time in the UK without creating tax residency. I hope he is getting good advice as by having children and a property in the UK he could be deemed tax resident anyway.

@ANON20241 I do think it’s not always straight forward though and depends on family dynamic and stage of life - Dubai is not cheap when you are there, tax is low / none ( not quite sure) however I have known people who were not getting a large corporate ex pat package end up no better off at all were spending huge amounts on rent, health, international schools £85 Friday brunches to keep the wife happy as she was bored - lots of holidays as wanted a bit more variety etc etc - several blokes on their own with families back in UK/EU spending vast amounts on a party lifestyle and who knows what else , which was very easy to slip into as not much else going on and no family around - as I say it really depends on circumstances - not just tax considerations as to whether it makes a huge financial difference - and there are other places ‘if’ it’s just about tax that may work better overall

It’s not so much what it’s spent on - I’m ok with all of the spending, it keeps the money moving round the economy. What really does the damage is offshoring it and not spending it.

There are many lifestyles within the two scenarios you give. You're happy - no need to denigrate others who want a life abroad for all its aspects - not just all about money.

The duchy is their commercial real estate portfolio. Their property

There is tax in the UAE - not income tax. There are many fees and charges and tolls. You will have to pay school fees and buy medical insurance of a good standard if you want more than the basic. Utilities are costly as is rent. It's not all money in your pocket.

I highly recommend considering a family move. We are in the process of doing the same, there is nothing wrong with trying to better your quality of life.
Dubai offers the safety, climate, opportunities for you and your family, not to mention you keep what you earn.

Why not try it for a few years.

Even after the security costs there's a net fiscal gain.

This is a question I have for all the people who do this. How much money do you actually need? Will paying more tax affect your lifestyle so much that it would be unbearable?

In OPs case, she hasn't said that if he doesn't go they'll have to without XYZ.

I understand wanting to save as much as you can so your future family doesn't ever have to worry about money. But if you have to abandon them to live across the world and not be a present parent to do so? Not worth it.

I don't think it's about needing the money. It's the principle of it. Some people just resent having to pay into a communal pot, and they get incredibly indignant about it.

So instead of having a discussion about it and explaining to him why you don't want him to move you'd "yeah okay sure". You'd lie and then make plans to divorce him?

How horrible?

Then those people need to go and live on a desert island in the middle of the Pacific with their millions. I don't need anymore massive Range Rovers clogging up my airways with their smog and helping to cause potholes with drivers who don't want to pay towards sorting it all out and being part of society. Bye!

To be clear, I also know people who have never worked and expect the earth - they can do one as well!

Whilst I don’t disagree on some ways I don’t think this is a thing of the current gvt, it has been going on for a very long time including through the Tory era ( £400 billion on Brexit) - and it really depends what you consider is ‘wasting’ - personally I think our whole system is screwed - we have allowed people to take pension money at 55 meaning many who have big pension pots and paid off houses quite understandably think ‘screw this’ - stop working, pay small amounts of tax ( if any) and no or next to no NI in many cases as have enough qualifying years - that makes a huge dent in tax revenue - in Sweden the age you can do this is63. We have far too many people in part time jobs and needing UC top ups, in some cases it’s because of what’s available , in others it’s very much a choice because they are little better off working full time- especially if renting . someone I know is getting over £700 a month child maintenance for 2 and still getting next to full UC and rent paid -works as little as she can getaway with and seems to get away with it as one child has slight additional needs - nothing major.

the country has become very dog eat dog, and the big issue isn’t gvts going out wasting vast amounts with a few huge exceptions ( Brexit, poor covid financial controls and hs2 in my opinion) - it’s that tax revenue is poor - people hiding vast amounts out the UK, people happy to work as little as possible and claim, people opting out early of contributing much ( I do get that by the way , I would have been tempted if in same position) - vast amounts on propping up rental payments in private rented sector because we don’t have enough social housing seasons off and house prices in many parts mean people can’t buy - it’s a shit show in so many ways but at the end of the day people can’t have scandi services and Dubai tax much as most would like it - and I do think some unpopular decisions might have to come in with regards to other aspects I mentioned too if anything is to improve .

Yeah, I agree. The far right types who don't want to pay tax can fuck off for all I care. Yes, we'll probably lose the bit of tax that they're currently paying but they're probably doing everything within their power to dodge that already.

Absolutely this.

So move to a country with a completely different culture?