UAE is the world’s most attractive expatriate destinations

According to a new global survey of expatriate hot spots by Mercer, The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has one of the world’s most attractive personal tax environments. Mercer’s Worldwide Individual Tax Comparator Report analysed the tax and benefits systems of32 countries, focusing on personal tax structures, average salaries and marital status. For single managers, the UAE is the most attractive tax environment according to percentage of net income available. The UAE ranks highly as it does not assess any income tax and the country’s social security contributions amount to only 5 percent of an employee’s gross salary. Russia, ranked 2, applies a flat tax of 13 percent across all income levels, while Hong Kong reaches rank 3, with taxes and social security contributions at 14.2 percent of gross base salary.Other important considerations for expatriate allowances are housing, private schooling and local cost of living adjustments, and there are additional complications around contributions to the home country pension plan. These factors can all contribute to the high cost of a global expatriate workforce, said the Mercer report.