The UAE has no personal income tax, so a AED 240,000/year package takes home the full AED 240,000, every dirham. On a typical 70% basic-salary split (AED 168,000/year basic), that same package also builds AED 48,329 in gratuity by year 5 and AED 117,370 by year 10. Enter your own salary to confirm both figures.
Rates verified How we check rates
Income tax
0%
gross = net, always
Gratuity, yrs 1-5
21 days/yr
basic pay only
Gratuity, yr 6+
30 days/yr
rate steps up
Typical basic split
60-80%
no legal minimum
Annual take-home
AED 300,000
Monthly take-home
AED 25,000
Effective deduction rate
0.0%
Only know your total package, not your basic salary split?
Open the split calculatorBecause nothing is deducted, the monthly figure is just the annual package divided by 12. The column that changes with your contract is gratuity, shown here for a 70% basic split.
| Annual package | Monthly take-home | Monthly basic (70%) | Gratuity after 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| AED 120,000 | AED 10,000 | AED 7,000 | AED 24,164 |
| AED 180,000 | AED 15,000 | AED 10,500 | AED 36,247 |
| AED 240,000 | AED 20,000 | AED 14,000 | AED 48,329 |
| AED 360,000 | AED 30,000 | AED 21,000 | AED 72,493 |
| AED 480,000 | AED 40,000 | AED 28,000 | AED 96,658 |
UAE labour law doesn't set a minimum basic-salary percentage, so the split between basic pay and allowances is whatever your contract says. Most offers put around 60-80% of the package in basic salary. Your monthly take-home doesn't change either way, but gratuity is calculated on basic pay only, so a lower basic percentage quietly shrinks the lump sum you leave with.
Here's the same AED 240,000 package at five different splits. Every row takes home exactly the same each month.
| Basic salary % | Basic per year | Gratuity, 5 years | Gratuity, 10 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50% | AED 120,000 | AED 34,521 | AED 83,836 |
| 60% | AED 144,000 | AED 41,425 | AED 100,603 |
| 70% | AED 168,000 | AED 48,329 | AED 117,370 |
| 80% | AED 192,000 | AED 55,233 | AED 134,137 |
| 100% | AED 240,000 | AED 69,041 | AED 167,671 |
Moving from a 50% to an 80% basic split on this package is worth AED 50,301 more gratuity after 10 years, for no change in monthly pay. If you're negotiating an offer, the split is often easier to move than the headline number.
There's no PAYE-equivalent deduction to model here: the UAE levies no personal income tax on employment salaries, for any nationality, and there's no payroll social-security deduction on an expatriate employee's paycheck either. Whatever gross package you're quoted is exactly what lands in your account each month, which is why this calculator's "take-home" figure is simply your gross salary restated.
The one figure that genuinely takes work to get right is gratuity, the lump sum your employer owes you when you leave. It's calculated on basic salary only, not your full package, using 21 days' basic pay per year for your first 5 years of service, then 30 days' basic pay per year after that, capped at 2 years' basic salary in total. Since resignation and termination now pay identically (Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, in force since February 2022), the only variable that actually matters for your gratuity is your basic-salary figure and your tenure.
Most UAE offer letters bundle basic salary, housing allowance, and transport allowance into one headline package number, commonly 60-80% of that figure is basic salary, with the rest split across allowances. Two people on an identical total package can end up with meaningfully different gratuity payouts purely because of where that basic-salary line sits, which is exactly what our package-split calculator makes concrete.
Assuming a 70% basic-salary split (AED 168,000/year basic)
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Annual take-home | AED 240,000 |
| Monthly take-home | AED 20,000 |
| Gratuity at 5 years | AED 48,329 |
| Gratuity at 10 years | AED 117,370 |
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Yes. The UAE has no personal income tax on employment salaries for residents of any nationality. Your take-home pay equals your gross salary in full, there is no equivalent of PAYE, income tax bands, or a payroll social-security deduction on your paycheck as an expatriate employee.
There's no legal minimum. UAE labour law doesn't fix a basic-salary percentage, so it's set in your contract, and most offers put somewhere around 60-80% of the package in basic pay with the rest in housing, transport and other allowances. It matters because gratuity is calculated on basic pay only: on an AED 240,000 package, a 50% basic split builds AED 83,836 of gratuity over 10 years, while an 80% split builds AED 134,137.
For an expat, monthly pay is simply basic salary plus allowances (housing, transport and any others in your contract), with no income tax or social-security deduction taken off. Mainland employers pay it through the Wage Protection System (WPS), which is why your payslip usually shows the same figure every month. The one number payroll doesn't pay monthly is gratuity, which builds up on basic salary and is paid when you leave. UAE and GCC nationals are the exception: their pension contributions are deducted through payroll.
Gratuity (end-of-service benefit) is a lump sum your employer owes you when you leave, based on your basic salary and years of service: 21 days' basic pay per year for the first 5 years, then 30 days' basic pay per year after that, capped at 2 years' basic salary in total. It's paid on exit, not deducted from your monthly pay.
Yes, in full. Under Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, resigned and terminated employees receive the same full gratuity entitlement, the older reduced-gratuity-for-resignation rule was scrapped in February 2022.
Basic pay only. Housing allowance, transport allowance, bonuses, and other benefits are excluded from the gratuity calculation, even though they may be a large part of your total package. Many UAE packages split roughly 60-80% basic salary and the rest allowances, check your offer letter for the actual split, since it changes your real gratuity a lot without changing your monthly take-home at all.
Only if you're a UAE or GCC national, the GPSSA pension scheme applies to nationals, not expatriates. Some free zones (like DIFC's DEWS scheme) run an employer-funded savings plan for expats instead of the standard gratuity, so check which scheme applies to your specific employer and free zone.
Considerably higher for the same gross figure, since there's no income tax or National Insurance/PRSI equivalent. A pound or euro salary that loses 30-45% to tax and social contributions in the UK or Ireland keeps 100% of its AED-equivalent value in the UAE, before accounting for cost-of-living differences. Our purchasing power calculator runs that comparison directly.
Related UAE tools and reading
Take-home is only half the picture in the UAE. These tools cover gratuity, package structure, and how it stacks up against home.
What to check next
Put the result alongside the pay available in the wider market.