A foreign company owns rented real estate in the UAE — does Corporate Tax apply?

The general rule is that a foreign juridical person isn't subject to UAE Corporate Tax unless it has an actual presence in the country (a permanent establishment or UAE-sourced income). But income from UAE real estate — rental or sale — is an explicit exception: it's taxed even if the owning company has no other activity or office in the country at all.

The logic is that the income source itself (the property) sits geographically in the UAE, so it's taxed here regardless of where the owner is incorporated. Foreign companies with real estate investments in the country need to register and file specifically on that income, even if the rest of their activity is entirely outside the UAE. RASEEKH handles this kind of file separately from the parent company's own file.