SILVER STONE PARTNERS
One Practice, Two Jurisdictions
UK Compliance for UAE-Based Clients
We bridge the regulatory gap between Dubai and London.
One Partner for Your UAE and UK Compliance
A growing number of our clients in Dubai don't just need UAE accounting, VAT, corporate tax, and audit support — they also own UK property, hold UK companies, or have business interests that cross both jurisdictions. Getting UK compliance wrong from overseas is easy to do and expensive to fix, particularly with HMRC and Companies House both tightening reporting requirements on non-UK residents and overseas entities in recent years.
That’s why UAE Operations works hand-in-hand with our UK practice, Silver Stone Partners Ltd, so clients in the UAE have direct access to regulated UK accounting and tax expertise — without needing to find and vet a separate UK advisor themselves.
About Our UK Practice
Silver Stone Partners Ltd was established in March 2011 in England & Wales and operates from our office in the City of London. We are a regulated practice, holding membership with both the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Institute of Certified Practising Accountants (ICPA). Since 2011, we’ve provided full accounting and taxation services to UK businesses and individuals — and over that time, a significant and growing part of our practice has been supporting overseas clients, including many based in the UAE, with the specific tax and compliance issues that come with holding UK assets or companies while living or operating abroad.
Because our UAE and UK teams work together, clients get one coordinated view of their compliance position across both countries — rather than two advisors who don’t talk to each other.
Personal Tax Returns Under the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme (NRLS)
If you own UK rental property but live outside the UK, you fall under HMRC's Non-Resident Landlord Scheme — and it carries obligations that catch many overseas landlords out.
What you need to know:
- Rental income is subject to UK tax withholding at source (currently 20%) by your letting agent or tenant, unless you've obtained approval from HMRC to receive rent gross
- Gross payment approval requires submitting form NRL1 (individuals), NRL2 (companies), or NRL3 (trustees) — approval typically takes around 90 days, so early application matters
- Non-resident landlords must file a UK Self Assessment tax return every year, regardless of whether tax is owed, including the SA105 (property income) and SA109 (residence) supplementary pages
- If you sell a UK property, Non-Resident Capital Gains Tax (NRCGT) rules require a return and payment within 60 days of completion — a separate, tightly timed obligation from your annual return
- Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is being phased in for landlords with gross property income over £10,000, requiring digital record-keeping and quarterly HMRC updates
How we help:
- Preparing and submitting your NRL1/NRL2 application for gross rental payment approval
- Preparing and filing your annual Self Assessment return, including all property income schedules
- Managing your 60-day NRCGT filing if you sell a UK property
- Advising on allowable expenses to make sure you're not overpaying
- Getting your record-keeping Making Tax Digital-ready ahead of the mandatory rollout
Company Incorporation — Especially SPVs for UK Buy-to-Let
A growing number of our UAE-based clients buying UK property choose to hold it through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) — a UK limited company set up specifically to own one or more rental properties — rather than in a personal name.
Why investors choose an SPV structure:
- Mortgage interest is treated as a deductible business expense for a company, avoiding the personal tax restrictions that apply to individual landlords under Section 24 rules
- Rental profits are taxed at corporation tax rates rather than personal income tax rates, which can be more efficient for higher-rate taxpayers
- SPVs are now the mainstream route for portfolio investors — limited company SPVs accounted for a clear majority of new mortgaged buy-to-let purchases in 2025, and lenders are well set up to support them
- Cleaner structure for succession and estate planning, and for scaling a multi-property portfolio under one entity
What our SPV incorporation service includes:
- Company formation with Companies House, using the correct SIC code and structure for buy-to-let lending
- Advice on shareholding structure — including for jointly-owned investments or family arrangements
- Coordinating with your mortgage broker or lender on the documentation SPV lenders require (clean accounts, director KYC, source-of-wealth records)
- Ongoing SPV accounting — annual accounts, corporation tax computations, and Companies House filings
- Advice on the right structure if you're planning to scale to a multi-property portfolio, including the PRA's portfolio landlord requirements once you hold four or more mortgaged properties
Transfer Pricing Advice for UK–UAE Group Structures
If your business has related entities in both the UK and UAE — for example, a UAE trading company invoicing a UK subsidiary, or shared services charged between group companies — the pricing of those transactions needs to be defensible under both UK and UAE rules.
What this involves:
- UK side: transactions between UK and non-UK related parties fall within HMRC's transfer pricing rules, based on the arm's length principle. Small enterprises are generally exempt from formal documentation requirements, and medium-sized groups currently benefit from a similar exemption — though HMRC can still request supporting evidence, and the rules in this area are actively evolving
- UAE side: UAE Corporate Tax law also requires related-party transactions to be priced on an arm's length basis, with documentation expectations for businesses above certain thresholds
- Where both sides of a transaction fall under scrutiny, having pricing and documentation that's consistent across both jurisdictions avoids the risk of double taxation or disputes with either tax authority
How we help:
- Preparing intercompany agreements and benchmarking support for related-party pricing
- Coordinating UK and UAE positions so your documentation tells one consistent, defensible story to both HMRC and the FTA
- Monitoring regulatory change — UK transfer pricing rules for medium-sized groups are under active review, and we keep clients ahead of changes rather than reacting to them
Overseas Entity Registration with Companies House
If a UAE company (or any non-UK entity) owns, or plans to buy, sell, lease, or mortgage property or land in the UK, it must be registered on the Register of Overseas Entities (ROE) with Companies House. Without a valid Overseas Entity ID, the entity cannot complete UK property transactions at all.
Key requirements:
- Registration requires identifying and disclosing the entity's registrable beneficial owners (broadly, anyone with more than 25% of shares or voting rights, the right to appoint/remove a majority of directors, or significant influence or control)
- All information must be verified by a UK-regulated agent before submission
- Once registered, the entity receives an Overseas Entity ID, required for any Land Registry transaction
- An annual update statement is mandatory — even where nothing has changed — filed within 14 days of the entity's update date each year
- Failing to file an update statement is a criminal offence and invalidates the Overseas Entity ID until the filing is brought up to date
How we help:
- Identifying your entity's registrable beneficial owners and preparing the required disclosures
- Coordinating verification with a UK-regulated agent
- Managing your entity's registration and annual update statement so deadlines are never missed
- Advising on the process if your ownership structure changes and needs to be reflected on the register
Yearly Compliance with HMRC and Companies House
Owning a UK company or property from the UAE comes with recurring annual obligations that are easy to lose track of from overseas — and the penalties for missing them are automatic and cumulative.
What annual UK compliance typically includes:
Companies House Confirmation Statement
An annual filing confirming your company's registered details are current
Annual (Statutory) Accounts
Filed with Companies House within 9 months of your company's year-end
Corporation Tax Return (CT600)
Filed with HMRC within 12 months of your year-end, with tax paid within 9 months and 1 day
VAT Returns
If your UK company is VAT registered
PAYE/Payroll Compliance
If the company has UK employees or directors on payroll
How we help:
- Managing your full UK filing calendar so nothing is missed while you're based overseas
- Preparing and filing statutory accounts and corporation tax returns
- Acting as your registered UK point of contact for HMRC and Companies House correspondence
- Flagging changes in UK company law or tax rules that affect your obligations before they become a problem
Additional UK Services for Our UAE Clients
Beyond the core services above, our UK practice supports UAE-based clients with:
The reasoning behind the mandate:
UK Self Assessment For Individuals With Any UK Income
Not just rental income, but UK-sourced dividends, directorships, or investment income
UK–UAE Double Taxation Agreement Advice
Making sure income isn't taxed twice, and that relief is claimed correctly in both jurisdictions
Inheritance Tax (IHT) Planning For UK Situs Assets
UK property remains within the scope of UK Inheritance Tax even when owned by a non-UK resident, which matters for succession planning
General UK Company Formation
For UAE entrepreneurs setting up a UK trading entity, not only property SPVs
VAT Registration & Making Tax Digital Compliance
For UK-registered businesses
Cross-Border Payroll Advice
For businesses with employees or directors moving between the UK and UAE
Why UAE Clients Work with Silver Stone Partners LLC and Silver Stone Partners Ltd
One Relationship, Two Jurisdictions
No need to manage a separate UK advisor who doesn't understand your UAE structure or vice versa
Regulated & Established
Silver Stone Partners Ltd has operated as an ACCA and ICPA member practice since 2011, with a genuine London office, not a virtual or outsourced presence
Specialist, Not Generalist
Real, current expertise in the specific cross-border issues UAE-based clients actually face: NRLS, SPVs, overseas entity registration, and UK–UAE transfer pricing
Coordinated Compliance
Your UK and UAE filings are managed with an understanding of how they affect each other, not in isolation
Frequently Asked Questions
At minimum, you’ll need to register under the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme (or confirm your letting agent is withholding tax correctly), and file an annual UK Self Assessment return. If you’re considering restructuring into a company, an SPV may also be worth evaluating depending on your tax position and portfolio plans.
It depends on your tax position, portfolio size, and plans. SPVs have become the dominant structure for portfolio investors due to how mortgage interest and profits are taxed, but the right answer depends on your specific circumstances — this is exactly the kind of question we work through with clients before incorporation.
Yes — if your UAE entity owned UK property before the register launched, retrospective registration was required, and if it wasn’t done, it needs to be resolved before any further property transaction can proceed. If your entity already owns UK
property, don’t forget the mandatory annual update statement.
Penalties are automatic and generally don’t consider whether you’re based abroad — late confirmation statements, accounts, and CT600 filings all carry fixed penalties that increase the longer they’re outstanding. This is exactly why we manage a filing calendar for overseas clients rather than leaving it to memory.
Not necessarily — small and medium-sized groups currently benefit from exemptions from formal UK documentation requirements. However, we’d still recommend having intercompany agreements and basic pricing support in place, particularly given both UK and UAE transfer pricing rules are under active development.
Yes — company formation, VAT registration, payroll setup, and ongoing HMRC/Companies House compliance are all part of our UK service, whether the company is for property investment or general trading.
Ready to Secure Your UK Interests Today?
Whether you are planning your first UK investment or managing a complex corporate group, our dual-jurisdiction experts are ready to assist.