UAE property and Russian taxes: sale, rent and tax return

In brief

• Tax in Russia depends on your tax residence in the year of the sale or of receiving rent, not on your passport or UAE visa.
• A sale of a flat in the UAE is exempt from Russian personal income tax after the minimum holding period: 5 years as a rule, 3 years in certain cases. The rule also applies to property abroad.
• An earlier sale is taxed at 13% on a base of up to RUB 2.4 million a year and 15% above that. The base can be reduced by documented purchase costs.
• Rent is taxed every year under the general scale from 13% to 22%, together with salary and other income in the main tax base.
• Income and costs are converted into roubles at the Bank of Russia rate on the date of receipt or payment. A rise in the exchange rate can create tax even without any gain in dirhams.
• The 3-NDFL return is filed by 30 April of the following year and the tax is paid by 15 July.

Who pays tax in Russia

The key question is your tax residence in a given year. Under the Russian Tax Code a person is a Russian tax resident if they spend at least 183 days in Russia within 12 consecutive months; the final status for a year is determined on a calendar-year basis. A resident pays tax on all income, including income from sources abroad. Under the Tax Code, income from selling property located outside Russia and rent from such property are income from sources outside Russia. A non-resident therefore pays no Russian tax on them, while a resident pays under the general rules.

The consequence is simple. If you live in Dubai for most of the year and spend fewer than 183 days in Russia, selling a flat in the UAE that year creates no Russian tax. If you live in Moscow and the Dubai flat is an investment, all the rules below apply to you. How to determine your status and what to do in the year of a move is covered in our articles on tax residence and on the 183-day rule; the term tax residence is explained in the glossary.

A UAE residence visa, including the ten-year visa for property owners, does not change your Russian status by itself. It gives the right to live in the Emirates, while residence for Russian tax is counted in days. There are separate guides on the golden visa for property and on UAE residence by investment. Moving and changing residence is covered in detail in our article on UAE taxes for Russians, and I do not repeat it here.

What this means for you. First count your days in Russia for the year in which you sell or receive rent. Whether there is any Russian tax at all depends on that number.

What is paid in the Emirates themselves

The UAE has no personal income tax: the UAE Ministry of Finance and the official government portal state this directly. In its guidance on corporate tax, the UAE Federal Tax Authority separately describes real estate investment income of a natural person, where the activity does not require a licence, as outside the scope of corporate tax. A private owner who lets or sells a flat therefore pays no tax on that income in the Emirates.

There are costs, but they are fees rather than income tax. When a transaction is registered in Dubai, the Land Department charges a fee of 4% of the contract price. Owners pay an annual service charge for the building, and occupation or letting involves a municipal fee on rent. A full budget for buying and owning is set out in our article on property taxes and fees in the UAE, and why the income tax rate is zero is explained in the guide on personal income tax in the UAE. The terms used for off-plan contracts and tenancy registration are explained in the glossary entry on DLD, Oqood and Ejari.

The Russia-UAE agreement: what changed in 2026

Until 2026 the only agreement between Russia and the UAE was the one of 7 December 2011, and it covered only income of governments and state investment institutions. There was no full agreement for private individuals. On 17 February 2025 a new Agreement on the Elimination of Double Taxation with respect to Taxes on Income and Capital and the Prevention of Tax Evasion and Avoidance was signed in Abu Dhabi. Russia ratified it by Federal Law No. 189-FZ of 7 July 2025; the agreement entered into force on 18 July 2025 and applies to income from 1 January 2026.

The agreement is in force and has not been suspended. In 2023 Russia suspended the main provisions of its agreements with a number of states, but the UAE is not on that list. On the Russian side the agreement covers personal income tax and property taxes, and on the UAE side income tax and corporate tax. It allocates the right to tax income from immovable property and from its alienation between the two countries and contains rules for cases where a person is treated as resident in both.

For a flat owner something else matters. The agreement eliminates double taxation, meaning that tax paid in one country can be credited in the other. Under the Tax Code a Russian resident can credit foreign tax only where such an agreement exists. But the UAE levies no tax on an individual's sale or letting of a flat, so there is nothing to credit and the Russian tax is paid in full. The agreement helps those with income that is taxed in the Emirates, such as dividends and interest, and in disputes about residence. For that you need a tax residency certificate, and how to obtain one is described in our article on UAE tax residence.

What this means for you. The new agreement does not exempt you from Russian tax on the sale or letting of a flat in the UAE. It helps in residence disputes and with other types of income.

Selling a flat: when there is no tax and how to calculate the base

The holding-period exemption is set out in the Tax Code without reference to where the property is located, so it also works for a flat in Dubai. The minimum period is 5 years as a general rule. A shorter period of 3 years applies if the flat was inherited or received as a gift from a family member or close relative, acquired under a life annuity contract, or if it is your only home. The last case is rare for owners of flats in the Emirates, but there is a reverse trap: the law refers to other housing owned without any reservation about the country, so a flat in Dubai may prevent you from using the three-year period when you sell your flat in Russia.

The Russian Ministry of Finance takes the position in its guidance that the holding period for property abroad runs from the date ownership arises under the law of the country where it is located. In Dubai this is usually the date the ownership is registered and the title deed is issued. If you sell after the period has expired, the income is exempt and no return is needed for it. If you sell earlier, the income is taxable but can be reduced by a deduction.

The deduction is chosen in one of two ways. The first is documented costs of buying this flat: the contract price, payments to the developer and fees related to the acquisition. The second is a fixed deduction of up to RUB 1 million a year for all housing sold, if there are no documents. For a flat abroad the first option is almost always better. The Russian rule on 70% of cadastral value is designed for properties in the Russian register; a flat in Dubai has no such value, so the income is calculated from the contract price.

Buying off-plan is a separate story. Until the building is completed, the buyer holds contract rights registered as Oqood, not ownership. If you sell these rights before receiving the title deed, under Russian rules this is an assignment of rights rather than a sale of a flat, and the holding-period exemption does not apply. The tax is calculated on the difference between the assignment price and your documented costs. How such deals work is described in our article on off-plan property in Dubai, and the term off-plan is in the glossary.

The rouble rate: tax without a gain in dirhams

Income and costs in foreign currency are converted into roubles at the official Bank of Russia rate: income on the date it is actually received, costs on the date they are actually paid. If you paid the developer in instalments over three years, each payment is converted at its own rate. The dirham is pegged to the US dollar, so the rouble result depends above all on how the rouble moved against the dollar between purchase and sale.

An example with illustrative figures. A flat was bought for AED 1,500,000 when the dirham cost 22 roubles: a cost of RUB 33 million. Three years later it was sold for the same amount, but the dirham now costs 25 roubles: income of RUB 37.5 million. There is no gain in dirhams, yet the tax base is RUB 4.5 million. The tax is 13% of RUB 2.4 million, which is RUB 312,000, plus 15% of RUB 2.1 million, which is RUB 315,000. The total is RUB 627,000. Had the flat been sold for AED 1,800,000, the base would rise to RUB 12 million and the tax to RUB 1,752,000. The reverse effect works too: if the rouble strengthens, the base can be smaller or even zero.

The 13% and 15% rates for property sales apply in 2026. The RUB 2.4 million threshold is counted on the total income of this separate base for the year, which includes both property sales and, for example, dividends. This matters if in one year you sell a flat and receive large payments on securities. The term capital gains tax explains how such income is taxed in other countries.

What this means for you. Before selling a flat in the UAE ahead of the minimum period, calculate the tax in roubles using the real rates of your payments. The result often surprises people in both directions.

Letting the property: tax every year

For a Russian tax resident, rent from a flat in the UAE is income in the main tax base. It is taxed under the same five-step scale as salary: 13% up to RUB 2.4 million a year, 15% from 2.4 to 5 million, 18% from 5 to 20 million, 20% from 20 to 50 million and 22% above RUB 50 million. The rate depends on the total of all income in the main base: if your salary is high, rent from Dubai is taxed at your top step.

Each rent receipt is converted into roubles at the rate on the date it is received. If the management company transfers money once a quarter, you convert four receipts. An individual cannot deduct the costs of maintaining the flat, the management company's commission or the service charges from rental income: the amount received is taxed. If the management company collects the rent, the income is what the tenant paid on your behalf, not only the balance transferred to you; check this against the contract and statements. Rental returns and the work of management companies are covered in our guides on rental yields in Dubai and on property management.

An example with illustrative figures. A flat is let for AED 90,000 a year and the average rate on receipts is 25 roubles: income of RUB 2.25 million. If there is no other income in the main base, the tax is 13%, or RUB 292,500. If the owner also earns a salary of RUB 4 million a year in Russia, the rental income falls into the 15% step and higher.

What this means for you. Rent from the UAE must be declared every year for as long as you are a Russian tax resident. Neither the tenant nor the management company withholds the tax.

The tax return and deadlines

A resident declares income from selling a flat before the minimum period and rental income from abroad personally. The 3-NDFL return for a year is filed by 30 April of the following year, and the tax is paid by 15 July. The return can be filed through the taxpayer's personal account on the Federal Tax Service website. It must show the foreign-source income, the country, the amount in currency, the exchange rate and the amount in roubles, and for a sale the deduction chosen.

For filing late, the Tax Code provides a penalty of 5% of the unpaid tax for each full or partial month, but no more than 30% and no less than RUB 1,000. For non-payment of tax the penalty is 20% of the unpaid amount, or 40% where it is intentional. Late-payment interest accrues on the debt. If you sold the flat after the minimum holding period and have no other taxable income, there is no need to file a return.

Which documents to keep

The tax office may audit a return within three months of filing and request documents supporting the deduction and costs. Collecting them several years after a purchase is difficult: the developer changes its system, the bank closes an account, contracts get lost. It is therefore worth keeping a file for each flat from the first payment onwards.

It is better to make payments from your own account and keep the bank's confirmations, not only the developer's receipts. If the flat was bought on an instalment plan, keep the schedule and confirmation of every instalment. Converting costs requires the dates of actual payment. How to document the source of funds for a purchase is covered in our article on buying property in Dubai.

What questions the tax office may ask

Information reaches the Russian tax office from several sources. The UAE takes part in the automatic exchange of financial account information under the CRS standard, and the Federal Tax Service has named the Emirates on its website among the countries with which exchange takes place. The exchange covers bank and brokerage accounts: balances, interest and receipts. The Dubai property register is not transmitted through this mechanism, but rent and sale proceeds credited to an account with a UAE bank are visible in the account information.

Hence the typical questions. Why regular payments were credited to an account in the UAE and whether they were declared. Where the money for the purchase came from. Why a cost deduction was claimed in the return and what supports it. Whether the person was a Russian resident in the year of the sale. It is best to answer with documents rather than general statements: the contract, a bank statement, a calculation in roubles and, if you were not resident, evidence of days spent outside Russia. How to build an answer is covered in detail in our article on a tax office request about a foreign account, and what is known about such requests in 2026 is in our news on account requests.

There is also a second obligation that is often forgotten. If an account with a UAE bank is used for receipts, the tax office must be notified of its opening, and with large turnover an annual report on the movement of funds is required. Deadlines, forms and exemptions are described in our article on notifying the tax office of a foreign account. The developer's escrow account is not your account, but the account that receives the rent is.

What this means for you. The tax office sees the money in UAE accounts, not the flat itself. If rent arrives in an Emirati account, assume that the question about the income will come up sooner or later.

What may change from 2027

On 30 September 2026 the government submitted a tax bill to the State Duma as part of the budget package. It proposes moving income from property sales, dividends and interest into the main tax base with a scale from 13% to 22%. For an owner of a flat in the UAE this means that a large sale before the minimum period in 2027 could be taxed above 15%. This is a bill, and the text may change at second reading. Our analysis is in the news items on the scale of up to 22% for passive income and on the 2027 tax reform. If a sale before the minimum period is planned anyway, it is worth calculating the difference between selling in 2026 and in 2027 in advance.

A separate note on ownership through a company. If the flat in the UAE is held by a company and you are a Russian tax resident, the company is your controlled foreign company, and the rules are different: a CFC notification, the company's profit and its taxation. The bill proposes abolishing the exemption for CFC profit up to RUB 10 million from 2027. The choice between personal and company ownership is best discussed before the purchase.

Where people most often go wrong

• Assuming that since the UAE has no tax there is nothing to declare in Russia.
• Counting the holding period from the date of the contract with the developer rather than from the date of ownership.
• Selling rights to an off-plan unit and relying on the holding-period exemption.
• Converting income and costs at a single rate or at the rate on the date of sale.
• Not keeping bank confirmations of payments and then being unable to claim the cost deduction.
• Forgetting about rent: declaring the sale but not the annual rental income.
• Not notifying the tax office of the UAE bank account that receives the rent.

What an owner of a flat in the UAE should do

We carry out these calculations together with tax advisers in Russia and the Emirates: we check status, documents and the calculation so that the return and answers to the tax office do not contradict each other. More about our tax coordination service; a general overview of the country is in our section on the UAE, and you can start with an online consultation. This article describes the general rules and does not replace a calculation based on your documents.

How this article was prepared

Sources: the Tax Code of the Russian Federation as of October 2026 (Articles 207, 208, 210, 214.10, 217, 217.1, 220, 224, 227, 228, 229, 232, 119 and 122); the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the UAE on the Elimination of Double Taxation of 17 February 2025 and Federal Law No. 189-FZ of 7 July 2025, published on the official legal information portal; guidance of the Russian Ministry of Finance on the holding period for property abroad; Federal Tax Service materials on automatic exchange of financial information; information from the UAE Ministry of Finance, the UAE Federal Tax Authority and the UAE government portal on the absence of personal income tax; the Dubai Land Department fee schedule. Exchange rates in the examples are illustrative. This article is not individual tax advice.