Moving from Ireland to Dubai: Capital Gains Tax, the Five-Year Rule and Your Business Valuation

By Bill Anderson, FCCA, Chief Executive Officer, Assetica · Published 2026-11-13

Direct Answer: Moving from Ireland to Dubai does not take your company shares out of Irish capital gains tax straight away. You stay ordinarily resident for three tax years after you leave, and the section 29A rule can tax a sale made within five years if you return. Ireland does not charge an exit tax on individuals, so what matters is the date and value of any later sale. An independent valuation dated to your departure records the starting point.

Irish founders often assume the tax link ends at the airport. It does not. Ireland keeps a claim on gains for several years, and each rule depends on what your shares were worth and when you sold them.

This guide explains the two rules that matter most, the current tax rates, and the four moments when you need a valuation. It is written for owners of private Irish companies who are moving to the UAE. It is not Irish tax advice, and your tax adviser should confirm how the rules apply to you.

Ireland has no exit tax for individuals, but it has a long memory

Some countries tax you on the day you leave. Australia and Germany treat departure as a sale of your shares at market value. Our guides to moving from Australia and the German exit tax cover those.

Ireland works differently. Leaving is not a taxable event for an individual. Instead, two rules keep later sales within Irish tax.

Rule one: you stay ordinarily resident for three years

If you have been resident in Ireland for three consecutive tax years, you are ordinarily resident. You only lose that status after three consecutive tax years of living elsewhere. Citizens Information sets out the tests.

While you are ordinarily resident, Ireland can still tax your worldwide gains. So a sale of your company in the first three tax years after you move can fall within Irish capital gains tax, even though you live in Dubai.

Rule two: the section 29A five-year rule

Section 29A of the Taxes Consolidation Act targets people who leave for a short time to sell shares tax-free. Revenue's guidance explains how it works.

Which shares. Shares you owned when you left, where you held at least 5% of the company or the shares were worth more than EUR 500,000.
What triggers it. You sell those shares while living abroad, then become Irish resident again within five years.
What happens. The gain is taxed as if you had sold before you left. Since 2014 the calculation uses the value on the day of the actual sale.
Foreign tax. Credit can be given for tax paid abroad on the same sale where a tax treaty applies.

The UAE does not tax individuals on share gains, so there is usually no foreign tax to credit. If you might return to Ireland within five years, plan any sale with this rule in mind.

What rate applies if Irish tax is due

Budget 2027 cut the standard capital gains tax rate from 33% to 31% for disposals on or after 7 October 2026. The change is subject to the Finance Act becoming law.

Revised Entrepreneur Relief can reduce the rate to 10% on qualifying gains. Its lifetime limit rose from EUR 1 million to EUR 1.5 million for disposals from 1 January 2026. The relief has conditions on shareholding and working time, so check whether you still meet them after you move.

Ireland and the UAE also have a double taxation convention, signed on 1 July 2010. How it applies to a sale of shares depends on your facts.

The four moments you need a valuation

Moment	What is valued	Who reads the report
The day you leave Ireland	Market value of your shares on that date	You, your Irish tax adviser, and Revenue if a later sale is reviewed
Golden Visa application	Value of your own equity, net of debt, against AED 2 million	The UAE authority handling the application
Moving shares into a holding company	Market value of the shares transferred	Your advisers, and the tax authorities in both countries
Selling the business	Enterprise value and equity value on normalised earnings	The buyer and their funder

The first is the one owners skip. Nobody asks for a valuation on the day you leave, so it feels optional. But if you sell three years later, the question of how much value built up before and after the move may matter to your advisers. Evidence prepared at the time is far stronger than a figure rebuilt afterwards.

The second is covered in our Golden Visa business valuation guide. The report has to isolate your own shareholding, not the whole company.

Use one valuation, not three

The risk is two reports that disagree. A value given to your Irish tax adviser should match the one in your Golden Visa file. We fix the valuation date, the method and the normalised earnings once, then format the result for each reader.

Normalising earnings matters more for Irish owner-managed companies than most. Director salaries, pension contributions and costs shared with related companies all need adjusting to a market level before any method is applied. Our guide to enterprise value and equity value explains how debt and cash are then dealt with.

Keeping the Irish company after you move

Many owners keep the Irish trading company and add a UAE holding company above it. That transfer of shares is itself a transaction that needs a market value, and where the company is managed from can affect where it is tax resident. Our guide to holding company structures covers the valuation side. Take Irish tax advice before you move any shares.

Moving from Ireland to the UAE?

Tell us when you are leaving and what you own. At the scoping call we confirm the valuation date, the readers and the scope, then quote a fixed fee in writing.

Business valuation for Irish owners in the UAE

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I pay Irish capital gains tax after I move to Dubai?

You can. If you were resident in Ireland for three consecutive tax years, you remain ordinarily resident for three tax years after you leave, and Ireland can tax your worldwide gains in that time. Your Irish tax adviser should confirm your position before you sell anything.

What is the section 29A five-year rule?

It is an Irish anti-avoidance rule for people who leave temporarily. It covers shares where you hold at least 5% of the company or the shares are worth more than EUR 500,000 when you leave. If you sell them while abroad and return to Ireland within five years, the gain is taxed as if you had sold before leaving, based on the value on the day of the actual sale.

Does Ireland have an exit tax for individuals?

Ireland does not treat an individual's departure as a disposal of their shares in the way Australia and Germany do. It relies on the ordinary residence rule and section 29A to keep later sales within Irish tax.

What is the Irish capital gains tax rate in 2026?

Budget 2027 reduced the standard rate from 33% to 31% for disposals on or after 7 October 2026, subject to the Finance Act becoming law. Revised Entrepreneur Relief can reduce the rate to 10% on qualifying gains up to a lifetime limit of EUR 1.5 million.

Why do I need a valuation if I am not selling yet?

A valuation dated to your departure records what the shares were worth when you left Ireland. That evidence is far harder to build years later. The same work supports a UAE Golden Visa application and gives you a starting point for any sale.

Is there a tax treaty between Ireland and the UAE?

Yes. Ireland and the UAE signed a double taxation convention on 1 July 2010, and it was given force of law in Ireland in 2011. How it applies to a sale of shares depends on your facts, so take advice from an Irish tax adviser.

This article is general information, not Irish or UAE tax, legal or investment advice. Tax rules and rates change, and Budget measures depend on the Finance Act. Confirm the current position with a qualified Irish tax adviser.

Disclaimer. This article is general information about valuation practice in the UAE and is not a valuation, an opinion of value, or tax, legal or investment advice. Any figures or reference ranges are indicative and are not a quotation for any specific business. Rules, rates and the requirements of individual authorities change, so confirm the current position before relying on anything here. For your own circumstances, book a scoping call.

Speak to Assetica about Business Valuation

Assetica is an independent business valuation firm in Dubai. We do not audit and we do not broker deals, so the number carries no conflict. Read more about business valuation, or book a scoping call. Standard reports are issued in five to seven business days.