Statutory Residence Test: Are You UK Tax Resident?

Your UK tax residence for 2026/27 is decided by the statutory residence test (SRT), a set of rules in law that you apply in a fixed order: the automatic overseas tests first, then the automatic UK tests, then the sufficient ties test. You are UK resident for the whole tax year if you meet one of the automatic UK tests or the ties test, and non-resident if you meet one of the automatic overseas tests — the famous "183 days" is only one of several ways to become resident.

The test is applied tax year by tax year (6 April to 5 April), and residence is all-or-nothing for the year unless split-year treatment applies. Nothing about the SRT changed for 2026/27, so the same thresholds and day counts you may have used in earlier years still apply.

Key points

• Work through the tests in order: automatic overseas, then automatic UK, then sufficient ties. The first one you meet decides the answer.
• Spending 183 days or more in the UK makes you resident automatically, but you can be resident on far fewer days if you have UK ties.
• A "day" normally means being in the UK at midnight, with limited exceptions for transit and exceptional circumstances (capped at 60 days).
• Leavers (resident in any of the previous three tax years) need fewer ties to become resident than arrivers, and have an extra "country" tie.
• Split-year treatment can tax you as resident for only part of a year of arrival or departure, but only if one of eight specific cases is met.

How the statutory residence test works

The SRT has three stages and the order matters:

1. Automatic overseas tests. Meet any one of these and you are non-resident for the year. Stop there.
2. Automatic UK tests. If no overseas test is met, check these. Meet any one and you are resident.
3. Sufficient ties test. If neither set of automatic tests applies, your residence depends on how many days you spent in the UK combined with how many UK ties you have.

Counting days correctly

A UK day is a day you are in the UK at the end of the day (midnight). Three refinements matter in practice:

• Transit days are ignored if you arrive as a passenger, leave the next day and do nothing unrelated to your journey while here.
• Exceptional circumstances beyond your control (for example sudden serious illness) can let you disregard days, but no more than 60 days in a tax year.
• The deeming rule catches people who leave before midnight. If you were UK resident in at least one of the previous three tax years, have at least three UK ties, and have more than 30 days in the UK without being here at midnight, the excess over 30 counts as UK days.

Automatic overseas tests

You are conclusively non-resident for 2026/27 if any of these applies:

• Fewer than 16 UK days and you were UK resident in one or more of the three previous tax years.
• Fewer than 46 UK days and you were not UK resident in any of the three previous tax years.
• Full-time work overseas across the whole tax year: you work sufficient hours abroad (broadly an average of 35 hours a week under the statutory calculation), have no significant break from overseas work (31 days or more without at least three hours of work), spend fewer than 91 days in the UK, and have fewer than 31 days on which you do more than three hours of work in the UK.

The third test is the one most expat workers rely on, and it is the one most often lost — usually because of a run of UK working days on visits home, or unpaid leave that creates a significant break.

Automatic UK tests

If no overseas test is met, you are resident if any of these applies:

• 183 days or more in the UK in the tax year. This is the only part of the SRT that matches the popular rule of thumb.
• UK home test. You have a UK home for a period of at least 91 consecutive days (30 or more of which fall in the tax year), you are present in it on at least 30 days in the year, and during that 91-day period you either have no overseas home or are present in each overseas home on fewer than 30 days in the year.
• Full-time work in the UK. You work sufficient hours in the UK over any 365-day period with no significant break, more than 75% of the days on which you do more than three hours of work fall in the UK, and at least one of those UK work days falls in the tax year.

Sufficient ties test

This is where most borderline cases are settled. There are five possible ties, but only four are available to arrivers.

The five ties

• Family tie — a UK-resident spouse, civil partner, cohabiting partner, or a minor child (with exceptions where you see the child in the UK on fewer than 61 days, or the child is only here for full-time education).
• Accommodation tie — a place to live available to you in the UK for a continuous period of 91 days or more, where you spend at least one night. If it is the home of a close relative, you need 16 nights or more.
• Work tie — 40 days or more in the tax year on which you do more than three hours of work in the UK.
• 90-day tie — more than 90 days in the UK in either or both of the two previous tax years.
• Country tie — the UK is the country where you were present at midnight on more days than any other country. This tie applies to leavers only.

How many ties are too many

An arriver was not UK resident in any of the three previous tax years. A leaver was resident in at least one of them.

The pattern is deliberate: the longer you stay and the more recent your UK residence, the less connection it takes to pull you back into the UK net.

Split-year treatment

Residence is normally decided for a whole tax year, so someone who moves abroad in July can still be UK resident for the entire year. Split-year treatment divides the year into a UK part and an overseas part, taxing you as non-resident for the overseas part. It applies only if you are UK resident for the year and one of eight statutory cases is met:

• Leaving: starting full-time work overseas (Case 1); being the partner of someone who does (Case 2); ceasing to have any home in the UK (Case 3).
• Arriving: starting to have a UK home only (Case 4); starting full-time work in the UK (Case 5); ceasing full-time work overseas (Case 6); being the partner of someone ceasing full-time work overseas (Case 7); starting to have a UK home (Case 8).

Each case has its own conditions and its own rule for when the split date falls. If more than one case applies, the legislation sets a priority order. Split-year treatment is not optional and it is not a general fairness rule — if no case fits, you are taxed as resident for the full year.

Examples

Example 1: the expat who keeps their non-residence

Priya moved to Singapore in 2024 and works 40 hours a week for a local employer. In 2026/27 she spends 52 days in the UK visiting family and works more than three hours on 12 of those days. She has no significant break from her overseas work.

She fails the 16-day test (52 days) but meets the third automatic overseas test: sufficient hours overseas, fewer than 91 UK days, and fewer than 31 UK work days. She is non-resident for the whole year and never reaches the ties test.

Example 2: the arriver who stays non-resident

Tomas has lived in Spain for eight years and was not UK resident in any of the three previous tax years, so he is an arriver. In 2026/27 he spends 105 days in the UK, rents a London flat for the whole year, and works more than three hours in the UK on 45 days.

Ties: accommodation (yes) and work (yes) — two ties. He has no UK-resident partner or children, and the 90-day tie fails because he was in the UK for under 90 days in each of the two previous years. The country tie is not available to arrivers. At 91–120 days an arriver needs three ties, so Tomas is non-resident.

Example 3: the same facts, one year later

In 2027/28 Tomas repeats the pattern: 105 UK days, the same flat, the same 45 UK work days. But he was now in the UK for more than 90 days in the previous year, so he picks up the 90-day tie — three ties in total. He is also still an arriver only if he was non-resident in all three previous years, which he was. Three ties at 91–120 days makes him UK resident for that year. Nothing about his lifestyle changed; only the history did.

Example 4: what residence costs

Becoming UK resident means your worldwide income is in scope, not just UK income. Suppose a higher-rate taxpayer becomes UK resident and has £2,000 of overseas bank interest. The Personal Savings Allowance for a higher-rate taxpayer is £500, so £1,500 is taxable at 40% — £600 of extra tax, before any credit for foreign tax withheld under a double taxation agreement.

Residence also determines whether you are a Scottish taxpayer. If you are UK resident and your main home is in Scotland, Scottish rates and bands apply to your non-savings, non-dividend income (starter 19%, basic 20%, intermediate 21%, higher 42%, advanced 45% and top 48%), while savings and dividend income stay on UK-wide rates. The Personal Allowance is £12,570 everywhere.

Practical points that catch people out

• Keep a day log. Boarding passes, passport stamps and calendar entries are the evidence HMRC will ask for. Midnights are what count.
• Dual residence. You can be resident here and in another country at the same time. A double taxation agreement's tie-breaker decides which country has primary taxing rights; it does not change your SRT answer.
• Reporting. Non-residents with UK income, and anyone claiming split-year treatment, generally report it on the residence pages of a Self Assessment return. If you are unsure whether a return is due at all, see our guide on whether you need to file a tax return.
• New arrivals. Those who have been non-resident for the previous 10 tax years can claim relief on foreign income and gains for their first four years of UK residence under the regime that replaced the remittance basis from 6 April 2025.
• Deaths and unusual years have modified versions of several tests, so check the detailed rules rather than the summary tables.

HMRC's full guidance is in RDR3: the Statutory Residence Test, and the overview of how residence affects foreign income is at GOV.UK: tax on foreign income.

What to do next

Work out your day count for the year first, then your ties, then see which row of the table you land in — and do it before the year ends, while you can still change your travel. Once you know you are UK resident, put your figures through the income tax calculator to see the bill on your worldwide income, and use the savings interest tax calculator if overseas interest is now in scope. If residence means a return is due, start with do I need to file a tax return.