We are at the end of April. The first quarter of 2026 is behind us. It has been, by any measure, an extraordinary quarter: a war in the Middle East, the Strait of Hormuz closed and reopened, oil prices spiked and partially recovered, the Supreme Court striking down US tariffs, Hungary's government changed, the Moon visited for the first time in fifty years.
Amid all of that, the tax year continues. Q1 is done. Q2 is underway. And if you have structures, residencies, or business activities across multiple jurisdictions, there are things you should be checking right now rather than discovering in October when it is too late to fix them.
What to Check Now
Your day count. If your tax residency depends on physical presence in a specific jurisdiction — and for most of my clients operating under non-dom regimes, UAE residency, or territorial tax systems, it does — Q1 is the quarter when travel patterns are established. Check your count now. If you are running behind on days in your primary jurisdiction, or ahead of days in a jurisdiction you are trying to exit, Q2 is the time to correct it. Do not wait until December.
The Iranian war's effect on your structures. If you have business interests, property, or banking relationships in the Gulf — Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain — the past six weeks have been eventful. Review whether the disruption has affected any of your operational assumptions. Insurance coverage. Counterparty stability. Supply chain dependencies.
Your German, Austrian, or Swiss filing position. If you are in the process of exiting a DACH jurisdiction and you have been telling yourself the filing can wait, the filing cannot wait. German tax authorities are not patient about exit-year declarations. If you moved in 2025 and have not yet filed, you are already late. This is fixable but it requires action now.
Your corporate management and control position. The question of where your company is effectively managed — which determines its tax residency in most jurisdictions — is particularly acute if you have been travelling more than usual as a result of the war-related disruptions. Make sure you can demonstrate that management decisions are being made from the right place.
The Broader Point
The extraordinary events of Q1 2026 have made it easy to focus on the geopolitical headlines and defer the administrative work. This is understandable. It is also a mistake.
The tax authorities of Germany, the UK, Switzerland, and the EU member states are not distracted by the Iran war. They are processing 2025 returns, preparing 2026 assessments, and identifying discrepancies between what was declared and what was reported by banks and financial institutions under CRS.
The noise of the world is not an excuse for the quiet work of keeping your affairs in order. That work continues regardless of what is happening in Tehran.
Work with Sebastian
If an end-of-April review of your structures and filing positions is overdue, this is the prompt. Let's make sure Q2 starts clean. Book a consultation.