| What a treaty does | allocates taxing rights between two countries so the same income is not taxed twice |
| Dual residence | settled by the tie-breaker: permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, nationality |
| Salary for short stays | stays of 183 days or less can stay taxable at home under the employment article, if conditions are met |
| UK dividends | no UK withholding tax; treaties usually cap UK tax on dividends at 15% where it applies |
| UK land and buildings | the UK keeps the right to tax; your country of residence gives relief |
| Inheritance | income tax treaties do not cover it; separate estate tax treaties exist with only a few countries |
| Where to read your treaty | GOV.UK tax treaties collection |
What a treaty does, and what it does not
A double taxation agreement is an agreement between two countries, there to make sure you do not pay tax twice on the same income. It does not create tax. Each country first applies its own law; the treaty then limits one of them or obliges the other to give relief. So the order is always the same: domestic rules first, treaty second.
The UK publishes every treaty in force, with its protocols, in the tax treaties collection on GOV.UK. The UK's treaties largely follow the same pattern, so the principles on this page apply broadly. The details, though, differ from treaty to treaty, and HMRC says it plainly: you need to look at the particular terms of your own treaty before you claim anything.
This page explains the pattern from the UK side. What your home country does with its half, for instance whether it exempts UK income or credits UK tax, is set by its own law and is a question for an adviser there.
Step one: two residence tests, then the tie-breaker
The UK decides residence under the statutory residence test, afresh for each tax year from 6 April to 5 April. Spend 183 days or more in the UK and you are resident automatically. Your home country runs its own test, often on a calendar year. Nothing stops both from treating you as resident at the same time, typically in the year you move or when you keep a home in both places.
That is where the tie-breaker comes in. It is a series of tests, and once one of them gives an answer, you stop:
Permanent home: accommodation that is always available for your use. You do not have to own it; a rented flat counts. If you have a permanent home in only one country, you are resident there for the treaty.
Centre of vital interests: if you have a home in both, the country where your social, domestic, political and cultural links are greater wins. Family, work and possessions all go on the scales.
Habitual abode: if that does not settle it, the country you live in regularly, normally or customarily.
Nationality: as a last resort, generally the country whose national you are. If you are a national of both or neither, the treaty leaves it to the two tax authorities to agree.
If the tie-breaker makes you non-UK resident, you can usually claim relief from UK tax. If it makes you UK resident, the UK taxes your worldwide income and gains, and the other country gives relief. A newcomer who qualifies can still use the FIG regime for foreign income and gains.
Salary: the 183 days and who pays you
Under the employment article (Article 15 or its equivalent) salary is generally taxed where the work is done. The well-known exception protects short stays: if you are resident in the other country, spend no more than 183 days in the UK in the relevant period, and your pay is not paid or borne by a UK employer or a UK branch, the salary can stay taxable in your country of residence only. The treaty defines the period; some count a rolling twelve months, others the tax year.
Employers should note that the treaty does not switch off PAYE by itself. Where a visitor is employed by, paid by or working for a UK company, PAYE normally runs as usual; HMRC offers arrangements for short-term business visitors so the employer can relax PAYE for treaty-protected stays. For people who move to the UK and keep working abroad part of the time, overseas workday relief can matter more than the treaty.
Pensions: usually where you live, with exceptions
For most work pensions, UK treaties give the taxing right to the country where you live. A non-resident with a UK work pension can therefore usually claim relief from UK tax under the treaty. In the other direction, once you live in the UK, foreign pensions are generally taxable here, and the UK keeps taxing foreign pensions if you were resident in any of the 5 previous tax years.
Where a pension is exempt abroad under the treaty but taxed in the UK, you usually have to apply for relief in the paying country before the payment, with HMRC confirming your UK residence on the form or by a certificate of residence. Some pensions fall under other articles, so check which one covers yours. Non-residents do not usually pay UK tax on the UK State Pension. How your own pension is treated after a move is the subject of pensions and investments in the UK.
Dividends, interest and royalties
The UK levies no withholding tax on ordinary dividends. For non-residents, UK dividends are disregarded income: the UK limits its tax on them to whatever was deducted at source, which is nothing. The treaty's dividend article, which usually caps UK tax at 15%, therefore mainly matters for the exceptions, such as property income distributions from UK REITs.
Banks and building societies no longer take tax off interest automatically. A non-resident living in a treaty country can claim relief from UK tax on bank interest, royalties, most work pensions, annuities and UK dividends. Treaties often attach conditions: you may have to be the beneficial owner of the income, and the income may have to be subject to tax in your country of residence.
In the other direction, dividends and interest from your home country can carry that country's withholding tax when you live in the UK. The treaty usually reduces it, and you reclaim the excess from the source country; the rest is credited in your UK return.
Property and capital gains
Land and buildings are taxed first where they are. The UK keeps the right to tax UK property, and non-residents pay capital gains tax on UK residential property, with a return due within 60 days of the sale. Rental income from UK property stays taxable in the UK too; see the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme. Your country of residence then gives relief by exemption or credit.
For most other gains, such as shares, the rule runs the other way: you usually pay tax where you are resident and are exempt where the gain is made. For land, a house or business assets used in a country, tax can fall in both countries, with relief given on the residence side.
One UK rule overrides the comfort of non-residence: if you leave after at least four of the previous seven years of UK residence and come back within five years, certain gains and income from your time away are taxed in the year you return. The details are in leaving the UK.
How the relief actually reaches you
A treaty gives you rights; you still have to claim them. Three routes:
- 1
Full relief
The treaty gives the taxing right to the other country, so the UK does not tax the income. You claim on the HS302 or HS304 form with your return, backed by a certificate of residence from your country's tax authority.
- 2
Partial relief
The treaty lowers the UK rate. HMRC's own example: UK basic rate 20%, treaty rate 15%, so you claim back 5%.
- 3
Credit relief
Both countries tax, and your country of residence credits the other country's tax against its own. In the UK this is Foreign Tax Credit Relief: never more than the treaty rate, and never more than the UK tax on that income.
Companies can be dual resident too, for example a UK company run from abroad. HMRC considers that all UK treaties contain a company tie-breaker. Older ones look to the place of effective management, where the key management and commercial decisions are in substance made. Since the OECD changed its model, newer treaties and many treaties modified by the multilateral instrument (MLI) leave the decision to the two tax authorities instead. Either way, a board that really meets and decides in the UK is the foundation; see UK company formation.
Inheritance: a different set of treaties
Income tax treaties do not cover inheritance tax. The UK has separate estate and gift tax conventions with only six countries: Ireland, South Africa, the United States, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland, plus older estate duty treaties with France, Italy, India and Pakistan. Under the modern conventions the country of domicile taxes everything, and the other country only specified property such as land within its borders. Since 6 April 2025 a long-term UK resident counts as UK-domiciled for these treaties.
Where there is no convention, the UK gives unilateral credit for foreign tax charged on assets situated in that country. Since your home country may tax by its own rules on top, an estate with a UK side deserves a look from both ends; start with UK inheritance tax.
Frequently asked questions
I work in London and my family lives at home. Where am I resident?
If both countries treat you as resident, the tie-breaker decides: first the permanent home, and if you have one in both countries, the centre of vital interests. Family and home weigh heavily. If the tie-breaker makes you resident at home, the UK can still tax the salary for work done here, and your home country gives relief.
Does claiming the FIG regime change my treaty residence?
No. The FIG regime is a UK domestic relief for qualifying new residents, and the tie-breaker is applied separately. For the FIG test itself, HMRC ignores treaty non-residence when counting your years of UK residence.
Do I need to file a UK return to get treaty relief?
Often yes, with the HS302 or HS304 claim form attached. If you have already claimed relief under a treaty, for example a UK pension paid without tax, you may not need to report that income.
Where do I find the treaty with my country?
In the GOV.UK tax treaties collection, country by country, with every protocol that has amended it. Read the version in force, and check whether the multilateral instrument (MLI) has modified it.
Sources: GOV.UK: Tax treaties collection; HMRC: Dual residents 2026 (HS302); HMRC: Non-residents, relief under double taxation agreements 2026 (HS304); GOV.UK: Tax on foreign income, if you're taxed twice; GOV.UK: Tax on your UK income if you live abroad; HMRC PAYE Manual PAYE81630: short term business visitors and double taxation conventions; HMRC International Manual INTM120070: company residence tie-breakers; GOV.UK: Inheritance Tax, Double Taxation Relief
