Statutory Residence Test (SRT)

The Statutory Residence Test (SRT) has decided UK tax residence since 6 April 2013. UK residents pay UK tax on their worldwide income and gains; non-residents generally pay only on UK income, such as UK rent or UK work. You apply the test one tax year at a time, and a day usually counts if you are in the UK at midnight. Since 6 April 2025 residence, not domicile, also decides how foreign income is taxed and, through the long-term residence test, whether inheritance tax reaches assets abroad.

Work through it in order. The automatic overseas tests make you non-resident: fewer than 16 days in the UK if you were resident in any of the previous 3 tax years, fewer than 46 days if you were not, or full-time work abroad with fewer than 91 days in the UK and no more than 30 days working here. The automatic UK tests make you resident: 183 days or more in the UK, your only home being in the UK, or full-time work in the UK.

If neither settles it, the sufficient ties test counts your UK ties: family, accommodation, work, more than 90 days here in either of the last 2 tax years and, if you were resident before, spending more midnights in the UK than in any other country. The more days you spend here, the fewer ties it takes to make you resident. In the year you arrive or leave, split-year treatment can divide the year into a UK part and an overseas part. You report your residence on the SA109 pages of your Self Assessment return.