| Legal basis | Statutory residence test (SRT), in force since 6 April 2013 |
| Tax year | 6 April to 5 April, each year tested on its own |
| Definitely resident | from 183 days in the UK in the tax year |
| Definitely non-resident (arriving) | fewer than 46 days if you were not resident in any of the 3 previous years |
| In between | sufficient ties test: days plus ties to the UK |
| Consequence | resident: worldwide income taxable; non-resident: UK income only |
| Updated | November 2026 |
How the UK taxes people from abroad
UK tax follows residence. Your nationality plays no part, and neither does where you are registered. If you are UK resident, you normally pay UK tax on all your income, whether it comes from the UK or abroad, and the same goes for capital gains. If you are not resident, you pay UK tax only on UK income, such as rent from a flat in Manchester.
The test runs tax year by tax year, and the UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. Each year stands alone: you can be resident one year and not the next. Since 6 April 2013 a statutory test has decided the question: the statutory residence test, or SRT. It replaced a vague sense of where your life was centred with counting rules. That is good news, because counting rules can be planned.
The test covers the whole United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Living in London or Edinburgh makes no difference to residence.
The test in three steps
The order is fixed. You are UK resident for a tax year only if you meet none of the automatic overseas tests, and either one of the automatic UK tests or the sufficient ties test.
- 1
1. Automatic overseas tests
Meet one of them and you are non-resident for the year. Done; the other tests do not matter.
- 2
2. Automatic UK tests
Meet no overseas test but a UK test, and you are resident. The best known: 183 days or more in the UK in the tax year.
- 3
3. Sufficient ties test
If no automatic test applies, your UK days count together with your ties to the UK. The more ties you have, the fewer days it takes to become resident.
The automatic tests
Three tests make you automatically non-resident, three automatically resident. Full-time means an average of at least 35 hours a week.
| Test | Condition | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1st overseas test | Resident in at least one of the 3 previous years and fewer than 16 days in the UK | non-resident |
| 2nd overseas test | Not resident in any of the 3 previous years and fewer than 46 days in the UK | non-resident |
| 3rd overseas test | Full-time work abroad, fewer than 91 days in the UK, fewer than 31 days with more than 3 hours' work in the UK, no significant break from overseas work (31 days without a working day; holiday and sick leave count as work) | non-resident |
| 1st UK test | 183 days or more in the UK in the tax year | resident |
| 2nd UK test | A UK home for at least 91 consecutive days, at least 30 of them in the tax year, present there on at least 30 days, and no overseas home or fewer than 30 days spent in it | resident |
| 3rd UK test | Full-time work in the UK over 365 days falling partly in the tax year, with more than 75% of 3-hour working days being UK working days | resident |
HMRC, RDR3 Statutory Residence Test notes; GOV.UK, Tax on foreign income
The sufficient ties test: days plus ties
Most newcomers land right here in their first year: too many days for the overseas test, too few for the 183. Then the sufficient ties test applies. It asks how many of these five ties you have in the tax year:
Family tie: your spouse, civil partner or partner, or a child under 18, is UK resident. For a minor child the tie falls away if you see them in the UK on fewer than 61 days in the year. Accommodation tie: a place to live in the UK is available to you for at least 91 days in a row and you spend at least one night there. Gaps of fewer than 16 days do not break the 91 days. For a close relative's home (parents, grandparents, siblings, adult children) it takes 16 nights or more. Work tie: you work more than 3 hours in the UK on at least 40 days. 90-day tie: you spent more than 90 days in the UK in either of the two previous tax years. Country tie: the UK is where you spent the most midnights this year.
One catch: the country tie only counts for leavers, that is if you were resident in at least one of the three previous years. Arrivers look at the first four only. That is why the tables differ: a newcomer can spend more days in the UK than someone on the way out.
How many ties you need at how many days
From this number of ties you are resident. Arrivers use Table B (not resident in any of the 3 previous years), leavers Table A (resident in at least one of the 3 previous years).
| Days in the UK in the tax year | Arriving (Table B) | Leaving (Table A) |
|---|---|---|
| 16 to 45 | non-resident (overseas test) | at least 4 ties |
| 46 to 90 | all 4 ties | at least 3 ties |
| 91 to 120 | at least 3 ties | at least 2 ties |
| over 120 (to 182) | at least 2 ties | at least 1 tie |
HMRC, RDR3 Tables A and B; RFIG20520
Counting days: midnight, the deeming rule, transit
A day counts as a UK day if you are in the UK at midnight. A day trip to London with a flight home in the evening generally does not count. Generally, because there is the deeming rule: if you were resident in at least one of the three previous years and have at least 3 ties, days without a midnight count as well once there are more than 30 of them. From the 31st such day, each one counts as a full day. The rule is aimed at commuters who fly in in the morning and out at night.
Transit days do not count: spend a night in an airport hotel while travelling between two places outside the UK and you collect no day, as long as you do nothing unconnected with the journey. Dinner at the hotel is fine; the theatre with friends or a business dinner with your team lead is not. Days you are stuck in the UK through exceptional circumstances can drop out of the count, but do not rely on it; HMRC reads that narrowly.
HMRC offers an online residence status checker for the current tax year and the six before it. It gives an indication, not a binding decision. If in doubt, proving your days is up to you: boarding passes, calendars, card statements.
Resident in two countries: what the treaty decides
The SRT is UK law. Whether your home country still treats you as resident at the same time is a matter for its own law, and often a home you have kept is enough. Then you are dual resident, and the tax treaty settles it with its tie-breaker: first the permanent home, then the centre of vital interests, then habitual abode, and finally nationality. If the tie-breaker shows you are not UK resident for the treaty, you can usually claim relief from UK tax. How that works is explained in our piece on the UK's tax treaties.
And then there are the famous 183 days in the treaties. They have nothing to do with the SRT. In a treaty, the 183-day limit sits in the employment article and decides who may tax your salary when you work temporarily in the other country and your employer is not based there. It says nothing about whether you are UK resident. Stay under 183 days with two or three ties and you can still be a UK taxpayer.
What comes after residence
Once you are resident, three questions follow. First: is your year of arrival split? The law has 8 split year cases, five of them for arrivers. If one applies, the part of the year before the move is treated for most purposes as a non-resident part. How that works is in our piece on split year treatment.
Second: can you use the four-year FIG regime? It is open to you in your first 4 years in the UK after at least 10 years outside, and you claim it in your tax return. Watch out: a split year also counts as a full year of residence for this purpose.
Third: do you have to file a return? If you have foreign income and are not yet in the system, you register with HMRC for Self Assessment by 5 October after the end of the tax year. How UTR, deadlines and the online account work is in our piece on HMRC and Self Assessment. If you later leave and stay away for five years or less, know the temporary non-residence rules; more in leaving the UK.
Frequently asked questions
Am I automatically not taxable in the UK under 183 days?
No. 183 days make you resident automatically, but below that the other tests decide. As an arriver you are only safely non-resident under 46 days. Between 46 and 182 days it comes down to your ties.
Does the 183-day rule apply to retirees too?
Retirees face the same SRT as everyone else. The 183-day rule in tax treaties concerns salaries, not pensions and not residence. A retiree who spends a lot of time in the UK and has family or a home here can become resident with far fewer than 183 days.
Do the days I arrive and leave count?
Only where you are at midnight counts. Land in the evening and be in the UK at midnight, and the day counts. Fly out in the evening, and the day you leave does not count, unless the deeming rule applies.
Am I resident from the day I move, or for the whole year?
Under the SRT you are resident for the whole tax year. Only the split year rules divide the year into an overseas part and a UK part, if you meet the conditions of one of the cases. You cannot choose: if the conditions are met, the split applies.
I still have a flat back home. Where am I taxable?
Possibly in both countries. The UK applies the SRT, your home country its own rules. If you are resident in both, the treaty's tie-breaker decides which state counts as your country of residence for the treaty. For the FIG regime only the SRT counts; the tie-breaker does not help there.
Sources: GOV.UK: RDR3 Statutory Residence Test (SRT) notes; HMRC Manual: Residence and FIG Regime Manual, RFIG20000 (Statutory Residence Test); HMRC Manual: RFIG20520 The number of ties; HMRC Manual: RFIG20720 The deeming rule; GOV.UK: Tax on foreign income; GOV.UK: Dual residents 2026 (HS302); GOV.UK: Check if you can claim the 4-year foreign income and gains regime
