Leaving the UK Tax System Properly for Dubai: P85 and What to File

Leaving the UK tax system is more than getting on a plane. It is a sequence of administrative and structural steps. Taken in the right order, at the right time, they give you a clean tax position from year one. Skipped or done late, the same steps tend to surface as an HMRC enquiry years later. That enquiry is usually triggered by something else entirely, such as a property sale or a return to the UK, which pulls the original departure back under scrutiny. Form P85 is part of it, though many owners do not need one.

This is the practical departure checklist for a UK business owner moving to Dubai: what to file, when, and what comes after. It is explanatory, not advice. The actual filings, especially the year-of-departure return, are work we would have a UK tax adviser do, and we say so where it matters. For how the UAE side sits alongside that UK work, see a case study of a UK owner whose Dubai company we kept joined up with his own UK advisers.

Your own UK adviser confirms your position. This page sets out the steps so you can go into that conversation with your eyes open. If all you are after is tax back from a UK job you are leaving, the P85 section below is the part for you; the rest is written for people moving a business to Dubai.

What do you need to decide before any paperwork?

Four things need deciding first: your personal residence, your UK home, your UK company and the UAE side. The administrative steps only make sense once those decisions are made. Get these wrong and the filings are built on the wrong footing.

• Your personal residence. Work out the route you will rely on to become non-resident under the Statutory Residence Test, and which split year case applies in the year you leave. That date and your post-arrival working pattern drive everything else. We cover the mechanics in The UK Statutory Residence Test Explained and Split Year Treatment Explained.
• Your UK home. Sell, let on a real tenancy, or make it unavailable. Available accommodation in the UK can keep you tied to the UK under the SRT and complicate the split year claim. HMRC’s guidance notes on the Statutory Residence Test cover the tie, and HMRC’s manual page on the split year case for ceasing to have a UK home covers the split year. We would have this settled before you go, not after.
• Your UK company. Keep it, move it, sell it, or restructure it. This is its own decision with its own tax consequences, and we cover it in Moving Your Business to Dubai from the UK.
• The UAE side. Licence, free zone, residence visa and banking shortlist, all scoped before you leave.

With those settled, the rest is a checklist rather than a series of judgement calls.

The P85 — telling HMRC you’ve left

Form P85 is how you tell HMRC you have left, so the Income Tax on your UK pay comes out right and you can claim back tax from your UK job. gov.uk’s own guidance on the P85 says you can claim if you lived and worked in the UK and have left and may not be coming back, or if you work abroad full time for at least one full tax year. It does not make you non-resident; the Statutory Residence Test decides that.

Many business owners do not need a P85 at all. The same guidance puts it plainly: “You do not need to fill in this form if you are sending a Self Assessment tax return”. That means the return for the tax year you leave, and most owners with a UK company send one. You tell HMRC on that return instead. If you do need the P85 and have not left the UK yet, you must print and post it; the online claim only works once you have gone.

The year-of-departure tax return

The return for the UK tax year in which you leave is the important one. It is where you tell HMRC you have become non-resident, claim split year if your move fits one of HMRC’s cases, and settle up, whether that means tax to pay or money coming back.

The deadline is where people get caught. gov.uk’s guide to tax when you leave the UK to live abroad says: “You cannot use HMRC’s online services to tell them you’re leaving the UK.” A return sent by post has to be in by 31 October, three months before the 31 January date most people know. Both dates are on HMRC’s page of Self Assessment deadlines.

Filing earlier is allowed and usually sensible: it locks in any refund and closes the residence question sooner. The residence claim sits on HMRC’s SA109 supplementary pages, where the split year case is identified and the split date stated.

For a business owner, this is not a do-it-yourself return. It is the document the rest of your tax position rests on, and mistakes are not always cheap to fix later. We treat it as a specialist UK tax piece, usually done by the same adviser who scoped the residence position from the start.

What happens to UK income you keep after you leave?

If UK pay or UK rent carries on after you leave, each has its own rule: the NT tax code for pay, and the non-resident landlord scheme for rent.

Continuing UK employment — the NT code

If you still draw UK employment income after you move, the NT tax code may come up. HMRC decides the code your UK employer uses, and your own UK adviser or HMRC confirms how it applies to you.

With an NT code, your employer stops taking UK tax off pay for work abroad from the day you leave. By default the code is run non-cumulatively, which means each payday is taken on its own. HMRC’s own PAYE manual says what that means for a refund: “the employee will be unable to receive any tax refund until after the year end”. The alternative is to run it cumulatively, and then it gives a refund if the code starts after you have left.

Continuing UK rental income — the non-resident landlord scheme

If you keep a UK rental property, the non-resident landlord (NRL) scheme governs how the rent is taxed. If you use a letting agent, the agent deducts basic rate tax from the rent before it reaches you. If there is no agent, your tenant only has to deduct it if they pay you more than £100 a week, so a small let without an agent can mean no deduction at all.

To get the rent in full, you fill in form NRL1i and send it to HMRC. Once HMRC approves it, they tell your agent or tenant not to deduct tax, and you declare the rent on your Self Assessment return instead. All of this is on gov.uk’s page on UK rental income when you live abroad.

National Insurance and pensions after departure

While you live abroad you may still be able to pay voluntary National Insurance contributions, so your UK State Pension record keeps building. National Insurance is a separate question from income tax, and the rules for paying voluntary contributions from abroad changed on 6 April 2026.

From the 2026 to 2027 tax year it is Class 3 only. gov.uk’s guide to voluntary National Insurance if you live or work abroad says it straight: “You cannot pay voluntary Class 2 National Insurance contributions for time abroad.” To pay Class 3 for a period abroad you need one of two things: you previously lived in the UK for 10 years in a row, or you have paid 10 years of qualifying contributions in total.

A narrow group keeps the old rules: people who applied for contributions for the 2024 to 2025 or 2025 to 2026 tax year on or before 5 April 2026, pay them by 5 April 2027, and apply for 2026 to 2027 by 5 April 2027.

If you already have a long National Insurance record and are some way short of the qualifying years, it is usually worth pricing the missing years before you decide.

With pensions, the answer comes from the UK and UAE’s 2016 tax treaty rather than from UK domestic law. The treaty says pensions and other similar remuneration paid to someone resident in one of the two countries are taxable only in that country. What matters is where you live, not where the pension is paid from. So for a UAE-resident owner the taxing right on a UK private pension sits with the UAE.

Government-service pensions are the exception under the same treaty. A pension earned working for the UK government or a local authority normally stays taxable in the UK, unless you are both resident in the UAE and a UAE national.

The state pension you have already built up stays yours. It is still paid at pension age, and it is paid to you in the UAE. It is not increased each year while you live there. gov.uk’s page on the State Pension if you retire abroad says the annual increase is only paid in the EEA, Gibraltar and Switzerland, and in countries that have a social security agreement covering it. The UAE is in neither group, so the increase is not paid there.

For a private pension, what changes is how new contributions are treated and the choices you have when you start drawing the money. Both are questions for your own UK adviser. Pension transfers are a specialist area, and one we do not advise on.

Which UK exposures carry on after you leave?

Three UK exposures can carry on after you leave: the temporary non-residence rule, Capital Gains Tax on UK property, and inheritance tax.

The temporary non-residence rule — the first five years

The temporary non-residence rule applies if you had sole UK residence before you left and were UK resident in at least 4 of the 7 tax years before the year you leave. If you then return within 5 years or less, counted in years rather than tax years, some gains and income from the time you were away are taxed when you come back. That includes capital gains and distributions from closely controlled companies, which can mean your own company.

HMRC’s guidance notes on the Statutory Residence Test put the way out plainly: “If your period of non-residence is more than 5 years, these special tax rules do not apply.” The rule itself is written into UK law, which you can read on legislation.gov.uk, and the law’s own start-date rule says it applies where the year you leave is 2013 to 2014 or later.

The practical implication: if you might come back within five years, a big one-off event while you are away, such as selling your company’s shares, is one to talk through with your own UK adviser first, because the UK tax on it can fall due when you return. We go into this in Can HMRC Still Tax You After Moving to Dubai?

UK property — leaving the UK does not end the capital gains charge

Moving abroad does not take UK property out of UK Capital Gains Tax. As a non-resident you still report and pay it when you sell UK residential, non-residential or mixed-use property, and on rights to assets that get at least 75% of their value from UK land. gov.uk’s guidance on Capital Gains Tax for non-residents sets out the property it covers and the deadline.

The deadline is the part that catches people out. For a sale of UK residential property completing on or after 27 October 2021, you report it to HMRC and pay any tax due within 60 days, even if there is no tax to pay or you made a loss.

For gains made from 6 April 2026, gov.uk’s page on Capital Gains Tax rates puts the rate at 18% on the part of the gain that fits inside your UK basic rate band and 24% on anything above it. So the more UK income you still have in that year, the more of the gain is taxed at 24%.

If it was your home, private residence relief can still cover the period it was your residence, and HMRC’s helpsheet on the relief says the final nine months of ownership always qualify. The calculation is detailed and one for your own UK adviser. A rental property held long-term keeps generating UK rental income and a future CGT charge on sale. That is workable, but not tax-free.

Inheritance tax — now based on residence, not domicile

From 6 April 2025 the UK moved to a residence-based inheritance tax regime, replacing the old domicile concept. The test is “long-term resident” status: you are within the UK IHT net on worldwide assets if you have been UK resident in 10 of the previous 20 tax years. The practical point for someone leaving is the IHT “tail”. That is how long you stay within UK IHT after you physically go.

The tail is banded by how long you were resident. Someone resident for 10 to 13 of the last 20 tax years stays within UK IHT for 3 tax years after leaving. At 14 years the tail is 4 years, at 15 years it is 5 years, and so on, up to a maximum of 10 years for the longest UK residence histories. So a deeper UK residence history carries a longer tail. All of this is in HMRC’s guidance on inheritance tax for long-term UK residents.

For owners with substantial estates, this is a separate workstream from the income and gains work, and one for specialist UK input.

Your UK bank — keeping your footprint consistent

Your UK bank needs to know you have gone. An owner who says they are non-resident but keeps a UK banking pattern that suggests otherwise is creating exactly the kind of inconsistency that gets looked at later.

The action is simple: update your UK bank with your new residence and address promptly after you leave, so what the bank holds matches what you tell HMRC.

The departure sequence, pulled together

For a typical move from the UK to Dubai, the order tends to run like this.

• Before you go: confirm the SRT and split year route; confirm the UAE side (visa, company, banking shortlist); decide on the UK home and the UK company; begin UAE company formation and the visa process.
• Around departure: receive the UAE residence visa; file P85 if you will not be sending a Self Assessment return for the year you leave (by post if you have not gone yet); update the UK bank; apply for the NT code if you have continuing UK employment income; send form NRL1i if you keep UK rental property.
• Once you arrive: Emirates ID; UAE bank account; UAE residential lease registered for the residence record; start tracking your UAE day count.
• As your UAE days build up: cross the UAE residency day threshold; apply for the UAE Tax Residency Certificate through the FTA portal, set out on the Federal Tax Authority’s tax certificates page; keep the UK day count disciplined. See UAE Tax Residency for UK Business Owners.
• Then, ahead of the deadlines: UAE corporate tax registration and first-period decisions; the UK year-of-departure return prepared; a return sent by post is due by 31 October.
• Every year after that: annual UAE TRC renewal and corporate tax return; UK self-assessment if any UK income or property continues; day-count discipline, with the temporary non-residence rule in mind if you might come back within 5 years; and if you sell UK residential property, the 60-day report.

What does doing it properly look like?

In the cleanest departures we see, the structural decisions are made before the move, not after. The administrative steps are taken at the right time rather than rushed at year-end. The day count is tracked from day one in a simple personal record. The first return after departure properly claims split year and confirms residence. The specific exposures are assessed individually rather than assumed away: property, pension, inheritance tax and temporary non-residence.

None of this is exotic. It is housekeeping. The cost upfront is the planning you do before you go; the filings themselves are modest, though most owners use a UK tax adviser for the year of departure. The cost of skipping it is an HMRC enquiry years later that has all the time it needs to find what was missed. The Dubai side is what brings owners to Start Business Services, and we start by asking about the UK exit, because otherwise we are building the UAE company on top of something that was never finished.

Frequently asked questions

How do I leave the UK tax system properly?

Become non-UK-resident under the Statutory Residence Test, claim split-year treatment for the year you leave if your move fits one of the HMRC split-year cases, file your departure-year Self Assessment return (or form P85 if you do not file one), and handle any UK rent under the non-resident landlord scheme. Your own UK adviser confirms your position.

Does leaving end all UK tax?

No. UK rent, gains on UK property, the temporary non-residence rule if you come back within 5 years, and the inheritance tax tail can all still apply. Most owners use a UK tax adviser for the year of departure.

Do I need to file a P85 when I leave the UK?

Only if you will not be sending a Self Assessment tax return for the tax year you leave. If you will, you do not need the P85; you tell HMRC on the return. If you do need it and have not left yet, you must print and post it.

Do I still file a UK tax return after I leave?

If you are in Self Assessment, yes: the return for the year you leave is where you tell HMRC, on the SA109 residence pages, and a return sent by post is due by 31 October. After that, if HMRC approves you to receive UK rent in full, you declare that rent on your Self Assessment return. Which later years you need to file is for your own UK adviser to confirm.

Do I need to register as a non-resident landlord if I keep UK property?

If you keep receiving UK rent after you move, the non-resident landlord scheme applies. A letting agent deducts basic rate tax from the rent; with no agent, your tenant only deducts it if they pay you more than £100 a week. To get the rent in full you fill in form NRL1i, and once HMRC approves it you declare the rent on your Self Assessment return.

What is an NT tax code?

NT is a PAYE tax code. HMRC decides the code your UK employer uses, and your own UK adviser or HMRC confirms how it applies to you.

With an NT code, your employer stops taking UK tax off pay for work abroad from the day you leave. By default it is run non-cumulatively, which means each payday is taken on its own, so any refund of earlier tax waits until after the tax year ends. The alternative is to run it cumulatively, which gives a refund if the code starts after you have left. HMRC’s own PAYE manual sets out both ways.

Can I claim a tax refund when I leave the UK?

You may be able to. The P85 is how you claim back tax from your UK job when you leave, and if you are due a repayment HMRC pays it. If you are sending a Self Assessment return for the year you leave, you do not use the P85; the return settles it. How much comes back, if anything, depends on what you earned and what was deducted.

What if I sell my UK home after I leave?

You still pay UK Capital Gains Tax on it as a non-resident: 18% or 24% on gains made from 6 April 2026, depending on your other UK income that year. You report the sale and pay any tax within 60 days of completion, even if there is nothing to pay. Private residence relief can cover the period it was your main residence, and the final nine months always qualify. Your own UK adviser works out the figure.

What is the temporary non-residence rule?

If you had sole UK residence and were UK resident in at least 4 of the 7 tax years before you left, and you come back within 5 years or less (years, not tax years), some gains and income from your time away are taxed when you return. That includes capital gains and distributions from your own closely controlled company. Stay away for more than 5 years and it does not apply.

Will I lose my UK pension if I move to Dubai?

No. The State Pension you have built up is still paid to you in the UAE at pension age, but it does not go up each year while you live there. On a UK private pension, the UK and UAE’s 2016 tax treaty gives the taxing right to the country you live in, so for a UAE-resident owner that is the UAE. A UK government-service pension usually stays taxable in the UK under the same treaty.

Should I tell my UK bank I’ve moved?

Yes, promptly. Update it with your new residence and address so what the bank holds matches what you tell HMRC. Not updating the bank leaves an inconsistency that can surface later.

Can I prepare the year-of-departure return myself?

Technically yes, but for most owners we would not recommend it. Most owners we work with use a UK tax adviser for the departure-year return, then self-prepare in later years if the position is straightforward.

Where to read next

• The UK Statutory Residence Test Explained — how non-residence is actually determined.
• Split Year Treatment Explained — the case you claim in the year you leave.
• Can HMRC Still Tax You After Moving to Dubai? — HMRC’s reach after departure.
• Moving Your Business to Dubai from the UK — the company-side decision.
• UAE Tax Residency for UK Business Owners — the UAE side of the move.

This article is for general information only and reflects the rules and practical experience at the time of writing. Tax and compliance requirements change and depend on individual circumstances. Nothing here is formal legal or financial advice; if you are unsure how any of it applies to you, take advice from a suitably qualified professional.