There is a rumor that Dubai has another additional taxation plan

[EliasIT]

Even with 9%, they are very competitive compared to many other countries around the globe, especially when compared to EU countries.

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

Even with 9%, they are very competitive compared to many other countries around the globe, especially when compared to EU countries.

Not really. Malta has 5% and it's a more stable business environment.
UAE has ever-changing rules and no rule of law. You could wake up tomorrow only to learn the rules have changed, or they could even backtrack on things that seemed guaranteed in the past, so now you suddenly have to pay a huge fine.

UAE made sense at 0% when there was no risk... Now, not so much.
Unless you really want to live there full time maybe - but even then, you could probably just set up your company offshore with minimal substance and live tax-free off dividends in Dubai.

 

[JimBeam]

Dubai still makes sense with generally very low taxes: up to 9% CIT and 0% PIT and 0% CGT. It's still a pretty good deal.
If and once PIT is introduced it will change things for a lot of people. They won't introduce big PIT it will be small in the start but they might increase it down the line. They are good at "boiling the frog" tactics.

As for Malta, 5% CIT is not that straight forward since (AFAIK) you have to pay the full tax amount and then file for a refund and then wait for the GOV to refund you. This creates a burden for the company as it locks money/capital until you it's refunded. From what I have heard this can take months. Malta makes sense if you want to live there but have big companies abroad so this is mostly for HNI. They also are looking to change that 5% CIT so that might change in the near future.

 

[sergeylim88]

with holding companies in malta you can avoid waiting for refund and pay 5% directly
you will 2 need companies (one is holding)

 

[Martin Everson]

Not really. Malta has 5% and it's a more stable business environment.

I wouldn't say stable as there has been talk about this changing for a while. Hopefully they stick to any changes only affecting multinationals and allow changes to be phased in.

https://timesofmalta.com/article/race-implement-new-corporate-tax-regime-kicks-off.1086535

I don't think people have much to worry about with UAE from the competitiveness angle even if they introduce PIT.