AAA<\/p>\n
Adrian Portelli\u2019s rationale for moving to Dubai, at least in his telling, is pretty simple. Australia is \u201cchasing away success\u201d, according to the Melbourne-born billionaire, and entrepreneurs like him will keep leaving with one-way tickets because of exceedingly harsh tax settings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t trust the government,\u201d Portelli told Karl Stefanovic<\/a> in a new episode of the broadcaster\u2019s controversial podcast. \u201cThey\u2019ve really come down on me.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had regulatory issues to ATO [Australian Taxation Office] issues, and I just can\u2019t handle it.\u201d<\/p>\n Portelli<\/a> has more than 1 million followers on social media and in August, he told them he was relocating to the Middle East, in response to this year\u2019s federal budget, and its sweeping changes to capital gains and property taxes that sparked warnings that innovation in Australia would be stifled.<\/p>\n Critics, including other young entrepreneurs<\/a>, united to lobby against changes to capital gains taxes for business. Broadly, Portelli and Stefanovic\u2019s discussion suggested wealthy Australians could vote with their feet and shift their lives and their businesses overseas, to countries where the regulatory burden is less prohibitive.<\/p>\n Related Article Portelli is doing so and more are intending to follow his lead, according to Victoria Wells, a Melbourne lawyer who started her firm, Ape Law, in the United Arab Emirates in 2022.<\/p>\n Last month, Wells and partner Stephan Roberto, along with Bali-based influencer couple Matt Cameron and Felicity Morgan, launched the business \u201cProject Get Out\u201d, to capitalise on Australians \u2013 particularly those working in tech \u2013 wanting to shift overseas.<\/p>\n They received 1000 inquiries shortly after launching \u2013 just as Portelli went viral for his move.<\/p>\n But experts warn that it is not always straightforward for relocating Australians to cash in on lower tax rates.<\/p>\n Deakin Business School lecturer Dr Kerui Zhai said Australia\u2019s higher personal income taxes and the changes to capital gains tax were among the incentives for entrepreneurs to relocate to the UAE, where they could obtain \u201csignificant tax savings\u201d. But he pointed out that companies with income largely derived from Australia would \u201cprobably still be subject to Australian corporate tax\u201d.<\/p>\n About 25,000 Australians live and work in Dubai. Expats from across the world comprise about 88 per cent of the broader UAE population, which hovered at 11 million in 2025, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.<\/p>\n While some have left due to the war in Iran, Professor Sunita Jogarajan, from the University of Melbourne Law School, said there was a long-term increase in Australians making the move since the pandemic, with destinations such as Bali and Singapore also spruiking tax benefits to attract expats.<\/p>\n \u201cI can see it from the cases going through the Administrative Review Tribunal. I have been in tax more than 20 years. There just was not as many [cases related to Australians\u2019 tax status] as before,\u201d Jogarajan said.<\/p>\n Tribunal records show the ATO has indeed been pursuing Australians living overseas deemed to be tax residents to pay their share, regardless of where they are.<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019ve had regulatory issues to ATO issues, and I just can\u2019t handle it.\u2019<\/p>\n Adrian Portelli<\/p>\n Engineer Trong Quy sought a refund of $524,943.29 from the tax office for the period between 2016 and 2020 because he claimed Dubai was his primary place of residence. But in March last year, he lost his final bid for a refund, as the tribunal ruled he was a resident of Australia.<\/p>\n The tribunal judgment said: \u201cDespite not treating Australia as his home in the relevant years, the applicant maintained connections with Australia that are objectively inconsistent with his \u2018abandoning\u2019 residence in Australia and making Dubai a \u2018permanent\u2019 (in the sense of not temporary) home.\u201d<\/p>\n These connections included that Quy\u2019s family home was in Perth, where his wife and daughters lived. Quy also acknowledged that he left other personal belongings in Australia \u201cincluding winter clothing (not required in Dubai\u2019s climate) and two guitars that he had been restoring\u201d.<\/p>\n Related Article Earlier this year, oil and gas executive Ragnar Bulie won against the ATO, after it sought to make him pay tax on income earned in Singapore between 2018 and 2022.<\/p>\n Bulie, who is from Norway and owns property in Australia, lived in Singapore during that time while his wife and children resided in Australia. He was earning about $700,000 per year, according to the tribunal\u2019s judgment.<\/p>\n \u201cMr Bulie\u2019s economic and personal relations to Singapore were, in composite, stronger than his economic and personal relations to Australia during the relevant period,\u201d the tribunal ruled.<\/p>\n Portelli earned his estimated $1.44 billion fortune \u2013 according to The Australian Financial Review\u2019s Rich List \u2013 from his subscription-based lottery business<\/a> that recently expanded into petrol stations. Before his move overseas, the federal government unveiled legislation to outlaw his business model.<\/p>\n Discussing his plans for a new business, a \u201cstreamlined way for Australians to import goods\u201d, Portelli told Stefanovic \u201cthey froze my accounts\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t pay my wages, I couldn\u2019t pay staff. I couldn\u2019t pay my bills. They just froze it all,\u201d he said, without explaining exactly who took the action against him.<\/p>\n \u201cMy accountant said he has never seen anything like this. He genuinely said they have abused their power.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are chasing young entrepreneurs, very talented [Australians]. People of wealth and success are moving. They are fleeing.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article In the UAE, corporate income is taxed at 9 per cent and there is no personal income tax. In Australia, companies pay a tax rate of at least 25 per cent, and personal income rates top out at 45 per cent for the most well-paid Australians.<\/p>\n Jogarajan, who acknowledged she did not know how Portelli\u2019s business was structured, suggested the billionaire could still be treated as an Australian resident for tax purposes.<\/p>\n \u201cForeign residents are taxed in Australia on any money they make in Australia,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s the kind of thing people pay lawyers to get advice on.\u201d<\/p>\n Portelli did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Speaking generally, Jogarajan said: \u201cYou really need to move and have a home overseas and not have those connections to Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the big issues is if the family doesn\u2019t move. The individual might be in Australia for a short number of days, say 30 or 60 days, and not typically be considered a resident here, if their family and children are still here.\u201d<\/p>\n Wells\u2019 \u201cProject Get Out\u201d seeks to advise on relocation and tax residency issues for Australian founders, investors and high-net-worth families. She said the venture wasn\u2019t \u201cabout engineering arrangements to avoid Australian tax\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cTax is legitimately one consideration in that decision, alongside lifestyle, family, business opportunity, regulation and access to markets \u2013 but it shouldn\u2019t be the decision itself. I often say that tax should be one coordinate on the map, not the compass,\u201d Wells said.<\/p>\n Wells contemplated her exit from Australia years before the latest military action in the Middle East. After the price of crypto crashed in 2022, which coincided with news that the asset would no longer be treated as a foreign currency, and hit with capital gains tax in Australia, Wells said many founders and crypto firms left Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was really the writing on the wall for me. My friends and my peers were leaving. I was like, OK, I have to figure this out. Are there going to jobs in crypto in Australia? No. Are there going to be clients in crypto in Australia? No, they are also leaving,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n During the past 3\u00bd years operating her Dubai-based law firm, Wells specialises in financial services, international arbitration and crypto. She said the business had reported exponential growth from clients seeking to domicile their companies in the UAE.<\/p>\n Since launching \u201cProject Get Out\u201d, Wells said she continued to clock 200 inquiries a day.<\/p>\n \u201cAdrian Portelli announced his departure from Australia, it was picked up and got a lot of press. [Meanwhile], the work that I do, naturally puts me front and centre for a lot of Australians looking at making an exit to the UAE specifically,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Morgan, one of her Australian co-founders, is an influencer who moved to Bali two years ago.<\/p>\n Her business, Felicity Morgan Coaching, was liquidated last September. According to the liquidator\u2019s report in December, Morgan owed the ATO $774,118.65 in unpaid liabilities. The report also said Morgan received a director\u2019s loan from the company for $1.08 million, which the liquidator requested be repaid.<\/p>\n Morgan said: \u201cThe current status is incorrect, however, things take time to show on the system.\u201d<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>. <\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"Billionaire](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/f0d17c9a405d8f1a2751525cf58b89b1759a9a07.jpeg\")
Billionaire Adrian Portelli has moved to Dubai, and told Karl Stefanovic he doesn\u2019t \u201ctrust\u201d the Australian government.AAP<\/p>\n![\"Young](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/50ec67af78cea14a43010ae87dc58912dcf39298.jpeg\")
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Dubai has been competing with Singapore and Bali to entice expats overseas, expats say.Bloomberg<\/p>\n![\"Billionaire](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/9cbf667c13dd963cafcf927a134b9193ed6e68e7.jpeg\")
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Crypto lawyer Victoria Wells began a business, \u201cProject Get Out\u201d, to advise Australians moving to Dubai.<\/p>\n![\"Wells](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/80841db804613e055805acbbc5aa3e5014ef96f6.jpeg\")
Wells and partner Stephan Roberto.<\/p>\n