Australian CGT When You Sell Around a Move to the UAE

If you are an Australian owner planning to sell a business, shares or a property around the time you move to the UAE, this page is about one thing: Australian capital gains tax (CGT) on that sale. The rules for people who have left Australia changed this year. The changes are law, and they apply to sales from 1 October 2026.

This is context for a decision, not tax advice. We are not Australian tax advisers and we don’t pretend to be. What follows is what we have been telling Australian owners who call us mid-move, so they know what to ask before they sit down with their own adviser.

How leaving Australia works as a whole is on our page for Australian owners moving a business to Dubai. Here we stay on the sale.

Is the foreign-resident CGT change law yet?

Yes. It became law on 15 September 2026, when the Act received Royal Assent, and it started on 1 October 2026.

It went to Parliament in July 2026.

The part that matters for a sale is the start date. The Act says its main changes “apply in relation to CGT events happening on or after the commencement day”, and that day was 1 October 2026. A CGT event is the law’s term. For most people reading this, it means a sale. So the changes are not backdated.

This is the law now. The Act does leave the Minister room to set some of the detail later, which is one more reason your Australian adviser needs to be working from the current position.

Sources: the Act on the Federal Register of Legislation.

What does the Act change?

Three things. It widens what counts as Australian real property. It changes when shares in a company that is mostly Australian land are tested. And it adds a notice step on very large deals. The first is here, and the other two have a section each below.

Taxable Australian real property is one of the categories of assets a foreign resident still pays Australian CGT on after leaving. It is easy to mix up with taxable Australian property, which is the name for all five categories together. The Act now sets out what real property includes, and more asset types are drawn in. They are rights and licences over land, things fixed on land, water rights, and options over any of these.

In the Act’s own list, real property includes “a licence or contractual right exercisable over or in relation to land”.

What that means for you is simple enough. If one of those is among the things you plan to sell, it stays inside Australian CGT after you move, the same as land would.

Sources: the Act on the Federal Register of Legislation and the income tax law it amends.

When do shares in a company count as Australian property?

When two tests are both met. The first is how much you hold: you and your associates together own 10% or more of the company at the time of the sale, or held that much throughout any 12 months in the two years before it. The second is what the company is worth: its value comes mainly from Australian real property. It makes no difference whether the company is Australian or foreign.

The law calls these the non-portfolio interest test and the principal asset test. Those are the names your adviser will use.

The 2026 change is about when the second test is looked at. Under the Act, the test is met if the shares pass it at the time of the sale or at any time in the 365 days before it, unless the Minister has set a different time for that kind of case. In the Act’s words, that is “at that time or at any time during the period of 365 days preceding that time”.

The first test is about the size of your holding, and the second is about where the company’s value comes from. Whether your shares meet both is a question of fact, and it is one for your Australian adviser.

Sources: Australia’s income tax law for the two tests, and the Act for the 365 days, both on the Federal Register of Legislation.

Does the $50 million notice rule touch a small business sale?

Not usually. The third change adds notification rules around larger sales, and it bites only on deals worth $50 million or more. That is not the usual sale of a business run by one to five people.

Here is how it works. The seller may give the ATO a notice that they intend to give, or have given, the buyer a declaration about the shares or other interests being sold. On deals worth $50 million or more, counted together with any related deals, giving that notice in time is how the buyer can rely on that declaration.

In time generally means at least 28 days before settlement. The seller also tells the buyer in writing that the notice has gone in. If that does not happen, the buyer may need to withhold 15% from the deal. Withholding means the buyer holds that part of the price back.

Below that figure, the buyer can rely on the seller’s declaration without the notice.

Sources: the Act on the Federal Register of Legislation and the tax administration law it amends.

What earlier rule covers people selling Australian property?

An earlier rule, separate from the Act, sets what a buyer holds back when a foreign resident sells Australian property. The rate is 15%, and the law sets no value threshold, so it applies to property of any value.

Let’s say, as an example, you sell a property in Australia for $1 million after you have left. At the full rate that is $150,000 the buyer holds back from the price. That is money you may have been counting on for the move.

There are two documents people mix up here. A clearance certificate is for a seller who is an Australian resident. A foreign resident can ask the ATO for a variation, which sets a reduced rate. Without one, the full 15% is withheld. Which applies to you is your adviser’s call.

Sources: Australia’s tax administration law on the Federal Register of Legislation.

Does moving to the UAE switch off Australian CGT?

No. Becoming a non-resident does not switch off Australian CGT on taxable Australian property, and the Act makes the category of “taxable Australian property” larger.

The cliché plan is to leave Australia, become a non-resident, then sell in the new tax year with no Australian CGT bill. That plan was always thinner than it sounded, and there are two reasons. The first is the one above: taxable Australian property stays inside Australian CGT wherever you live.

The second is that leaving is itself treated as a sale of what you own, unless you choose to defer. The law says that event “happens if you stop being an Australian resident”. How that works, and what choosing to defer does, is on our page for Australian owners moving a business to Dubai.

Two kinds of asset are left out of that sale: taxable Australian real property, and assets you have used in carrying on a business through a permanent establishment in Australia. Shares that meet the two share tests are not one of them, so they are part of that sale too, at market value, and whether yours meet the tests is one for your Australian adviser.

Two older rules matter to the same person, because both can change how much of a sale you keep. A foreign resident who sells the family home after leaving generally cannot claim the main residence exemption on it, unless they meet what the law calls the life events test. And the full CGT discount is not available on an asset you acquired after 8 May 2012 and sell as a foreign resident.

Sources: Australia’s income tax law and the Act, both on the Federal Register of Legislation.

So the practical points are narrow and boring, which is how good ones usually look. This is how we see it, and none of it replaces your adviser:

• If the plan rests on non-residency clearing the gain, we would want your Australian adviser’s opinion on your actual assets before anything is sold.
• If you hold shares in a company that is mostly Australian land, the two share tests are the ones we would expect your adviser to check, line by line.
• If you have built layered structures over the years, an operating company, a holding company, a portfolio, a trust, we would not assume the structure that fitted the old rules fits the new ones. That is one for your adviser too.
• We would treat the residency change, the sale and the timing of both as one decision made with your adviser, not three separate ones made by advisers who never speak.

Tax is one input here. It is not the reason to move a real business to the UAE, and we wouldn’t frame it as one. It is something you plan around once you have decided the move makes commercial sense.

Which of these rules touches you?

It depends on what you are selling. The table sets the law’s tests against the kind of asset. It is the law as it stands, not a view on your position.

What you are selling	What the law says	Where that leaves you
Australian land or buildings	It is taxable Australian property.	It stays inside Australian CGT after you leave.
A right or licence over land, a thing fixed on land, a water right, or an option over any of these	The Act counts it as taxable Australian real property.	It is treated the same as land, for sales from 1 October 2026.
Shares, where you and your associates hold 10% or more at the time of the sale, or held that much throughout any 12 months in the two years before it, and the company’s value is mainly Australian real property	Both share tests are met. The second is met at the time of the sale or at any time in the 365 days before it.	The shares stay inside Australian CGT after you leave.
Assets that are not taxable Australian property	They are treated as sold at market value when you stop being a resident, unless you choose to defer.	Leaving counts as the sale, unless you choose to defer.
Australian property, sold as a foreign resident	The buyer withholds 15% of the value, whatever the value.	The full 15% is held back, unless the ATO has given you a variation.
A deal worth $50 million or more, counted with any related deals	The seller’s notice to the ATO is how the buyer can rely on the seller’s declaration.	Under $50 million, no notice is needed.
The family home, sold after you have left	Generally there is no main residence exemption, unless the life events test is met.	The exemption you may be counting on may not be there.

Sources: the Act, Australia’s income tax law and Australia’s tax administration law, all on the Federal Register of Legislation.

Which rows apply to your assets is for your Australian tax adviser to confirm.

Where do we fit, and where don’t we?

We run the UAE side. We design the company you will trade or hold through, get the banking right, sort residency, and make sure the substance is real before any of it goes near a tax authority. UAE corporate tax compliance and structure are our patch and we handle them directly.

Australian owners ask us whether to bring a sale forward, and at Start Business Services we say the same thing: we work off the law as it stands, and from 1 October 2026 that includes these changes.

Australian tax we don’t do in-house. We are not Australian tax advisers and we don’t give Australian tax advice. We work alongside your Australian adviser on the Australian-side opinion, and we don’t sign off the UAE structure until it actually matches the Australian position you and your adviser have agreed.

The common failure is two advisers building two halves of a structure that don’t quite meet in the middle. The UAE company is fine on its own, the Australian exit position is fine on its own, but the join assumes things that aren’t true. Our job is the join, done properly, and the honesty about where our remit ends.

What should you do now?

Start with your Australian tax adviser, then build the UAE side around what they tell you. This is the order we would suggest, and they have the final say on it:

One. Get a current-state opinion from your Australian tax adviser on your specific asset mix, against the law as it now stands, including the 2026 changes. Generic answers won’t help you.

Two. If you are selling Australian property, ask your adviser about the buyer’s 15% withholding and whether a variation applies to you.

Three. If you are proceeding with the UAE side, build it with full sight of the Australian side, not as a separate job bolted on later.

If you want a straight conversation about how the UAE side should be sequenced around your Australian position, you can get in touch. We’ll tell you what we can do, what we can’t, and where your Australian adviser has to lead.

Common questions

Has Australia’s foreign-resident CGT change become law?

Yes. It received Royal Assent on 15 September 2026, after going to Parliament in July 2026. You can read the Act on the Federal Register of Legislation.

When did the new foreign-resident CGT rules start?

On 1 October 2026. The main changes apply to sales and other CGT events on or after that day, so they are not backdated.

What earlier rule covers foreign residents selling Australian property?

An earlier rule covers what the buyer holds back from the price. The rate is 15% and it applies to property of any value.

Does moving to the UAE remove my Australian capital gains tax?

No. Becoming a non-resident does not switch off Australian CGT on taxable Australian property, and the Act widens what counts as taxable Australian property. Leaving is also treated as a sale of your other assets, and of shares that meet the two share tests, at market value, unless you choose to defer. Your residency change, your sales and the timing of both need an Australian tax adviser’s view on your facts.

Can Start Business Services give me Australian tax advice?

No. We are not Australian tax advisers and we don’t give Australian tax advice. We handle the UAE side, company structure, banking, residency and substance, and we work alongside your Australian adviser so the two halves fit together.