Moving to the UK and your tax
Your move to the UK comes with a tax gift that has an expiry date. Settle the right things before and after you arrive, and your foreign income is taxed only once.
| Tax year | 6 April to 5 April |
| Residence | statutory residence test, applied afresh each tax year |
| Automatically resident | from 183 days in the UK in the tax year |
| FIG regime | 4 years without UK tax on foreign income, after 10 years outside the UK |
| Year of arrival | split year: the year can be divided into an overseas part and a UK part |
| Registration | Self Assessment by 5 October after the end of the tax year |
| Updated | November 2026 |
Why timing is everything
Move to the UK and its tax law hands you a gift with an expiry date. After at least ten tax years outside the UK you can keep foreign income and gains out of UK tax for four years. After that you pay on your worldwide income like any Brit. What you sell, restructure or distribute in those four years often decides sums with five or six digits.
For the window to sit right, three things have to line up: the day you become resident, how your year of arrival is split, and what your home country still asks of you when you leave. The articles on this page take them in exactly that order.
The order that works
- 1
Before you move: your home country
Many European countries tax unrealised gains on shares, or the assets of a business, when a resident leaves, or keep taxing you for some years afterwards. The rules differ widely, so check your home country's departure rules with an adviser there before you give notice on your flat. How the UK and your country then split the taxing rights is in our piece on the UK's tax treaties.
- 2
The day you arrive: the residence test
Whether you are resident in a tax year is decided by days, work and ties under a fixed scheme. Spend 183 days or more in the UK and you are resident automatically. Everything else is in our piece on the statutory residence test.
- 3
The year of arrival: split year
Under certain conditions the UK splits the year you arrive into an overseas part and a UK part. For the FIG regime the year still counts in full.
- 4
The four years: FIG regime and overseas workday relief
For foreign income and gains you make the FIG claim in your tax return. For working days outside the UK there is overseas workday relief.
- 5
Your assets: pension, portfolio, old money
Foreign funds that are not reporting funds in the UK are taxed like income when you sell. The four FIG years are the window to restructure. Former non-doms look at the Temporary Repatriation Facility.
- 6
Everyday life: NINO, HMRC, ISA
Apply for a National Insurance number, register for Self Assessment, open an ISA. Registration for a tax year must be done by the following 5 October.
What to settle besides tax
Tax is only part of the move. Without the right visa there is no job and no tenancy; every route is in our visas section. For salary, rent and council tax you need a UK bank account; how newcomers get one is in a UK bank account as a non-resident. And if you are still weighing England, Scotland or Wales, start with moving to the UK.
Residence, the FIG regime and the first years
Living with HMRC
Your move to the UK, planned for tax
In the UK Tax Consult we fix the start of your residence, your split year and your four FIG years, and list what to check with your home country before you leave. By phone, Zoom or Signal.