UK non-doms: Switzerland vs Italy, UAE and Monaco

Former UK non-doms looking abroad in 2026 mostly compare four places: Switzerland, Italy, the UAE and Monaco. They work very differently. Italy charges a fixed annual amount on foreign income (€300,000 for 2026 arrivals), the UAE and Monaco levy no personal income tax (with an exception for French nationals in Monaco), and Switzerland taxes you on your living costs under a lump-sum regime agreed with the canton. Whichever you choose, the UK inheritance tax tail travels with you.

Key facts (as of September 2026)

Why this comparison matters now

Until April 2025, a UK non-dom could keep foreign income and gains outside UK tax by not bringing them into the country. That option has gone. Many families are now asking where the rest of their life is best organised, not only for tax but for schooling, travel, language and the feeling of a place.

A comparison on tax alone can mislead. The four destinations differ in what they tax (income, wealth, estates), how predictable the bill is, and how you obtain the right to live there. We can only compare what we have been able to check on an official source; where a point is not verified, we leave it out rather than guess.

Side-by-side comparison

Residence permit rules for Italy, the UAE and Monaco are outside the scope of this page. For Switzerland, see the routes below.

Switzerland: predictable, but agreed rather than fixed

The Swiss lump sum is often described as a flat tax. It is not quite that. You pay ordinary tax rates, but on a base equal to your worldwide annual living costs instead of your income and wealth. That base must be at least:

• CHF 435,000 for the federal tax in 2026;
• the minimum set by your canton (for example CHF 250,000 in Valais, CHF 426,357 in Geneva for 2026, CHF 600,000 in Schwyz);
• seven times the annual rent or rental value of your home;
• the ordinary tax on your Swiss-source income and any foreign income for which you claim treaty relief.

Cantons also cover wealth tax in their own way, often by treating a multiple of the base as taxable wealth. The canton agrees the figure with you before or on arrival, which is why a ruling is worth having before you commit.

What Switzerland adds beyond income tax: capital gains on private movable assets are tax-free, there is no federal inheritance tax, and spouses are exempt from cantonal inheritance tax everywhere, with direct descendants exempt in most cantons.

For UK nationals, the permit side has become the harder part since Brexit. Unless you are covered by the Citizens' Rights Agreement, you apply as a third-country national, usually on the basis of significant cantonal fiscal interest, with SEM approval. Geneva publishes an expenditure base of CHF 750,000 for that purpose; most cantons publish nothing. The full picture is in our guide to moving to Switzerland from the UK after non-dom.

Italy: a fixed amount, now higher

Italy's regime for new residents replaces tax on foreign-source income with a fixed annual payment. For people who move their tax residence to Italy from 1 January 2026, that payment rose to €300,000 a year (from €200,000), and to €50,000 for each family member included (from €25,000). The regime lasts up to 15 years and requires that you were not resident in Italy in 9 of the 10 previous tax periods.

The appeal is simplicity: the figure is known in advance. Anyone who moved before 2026 should check their own terms with an Italian adviser, as we have not verified the transitional rules on an official source.

UAE: no personal income tax, but a corporate tax

The UAE levies no personal income tax on individuals. Since financial years starting on or after 1 June 2023, corporate tax of 9% applies above AED 375,000 of taxable income, and natural persons whose business turnover exceeds AED 1 million are within its scope. If you plan to run a business from the UAE, that is the part to look at closely.

Monaco: no income tax, unless you are French

Monaco does not tax the income of its residents, with one well-known exception: French nationals remain taxable under the 1963 France–Monaco convention. For a British family without French nationality, that exception will not matter, but it often does for mixed families.

A note on Portugal

Portugal's former NHR regime is closed to new entrants. Its replacement, IFICI, is aimed at people working in qualifying activities: 20% on qualifying employment or professional income for ten years, with most foreign income exempt except pensions. It requires five prior years of non-residence. For someone who wants to stop working rather than start a new role, it answers a different question.

How to think about the choice

Some questions we often work through with families:

• Do you want a fixed figure or an agreed one? Italy gives certainty up front. Switzerland gives an amount agreed with the canton, based on how you actually live.
• Will anyone in the family work? The Swiss lump sum excludes work in Switzerland for both spouses. The UAE brings business income into corporate tax above the threshold.
• Where will your estate be settled? The UK tail applies anywhere. After that, Swiss cantonal rules on spouses and descendants are generous in most cantons, but check Geneva's rule for lump-sum taxpayers.
• Nationalities in the family. A Swiss or French passport changes the answer in Switzerland and Monaco respectively.
• Daily life. Schools, languages, flights to London and the kind of community you want count for as much as the tax.

If Switzerland is on your list, our comparison of lump-sum or ordinary taxation and the main Swiss lump-sum taxation guide go into more detail.

How we help

We focus on Switzerland, so we do not advise on Italy, the UAE or Monaco. What we can do is give you a clear, sourced picture of the Swiss option, canton by canton, so you can compare it fairly with advice you receive elsewhere. See our UK page, try the eligibility check or get in touch.

This guide is general information as of 30 September 2026 and is not tax or legal advice; a specific situation needs professional advice in each country concerned and, for Switzerland, a cantonal ruling.