Top 10 Middle East stories of 2017
By Tom Carnegie, 27 Dec 17
A new family tax in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi’s biggest ever scam and the UAE pushing ahead with a major life industry overhaul were some of the most read stories by our Middle East audience in 2017. To see the others, click through the slides.
A new UAE-UK double tax treaty, which came into force on 1 January, means British expats over 55 residing in the Gulf state can cash out their full pension pot entirely tax free, according to David Denton, head of international technical sales at Old Mutual Wealth.
Currently, UK pensions are taxed when they are paid out as income, but those living outside the UK – and where the jurisdiction in which they live has a double taxation treaty with the UK – only pay the local rate of tax.
The treaty, signed by the UK and UAE on 25 December 2016, is effective for UK personal tax purposes from 6 April 2017, and is considered significant and symbolic of the UK’s increasingly close ties with the UAE.
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