Guide · International Tax
UK Statutory Residence Test (SRT) Explained 2025/26
The Statutory Residence Test is the single most important rule in UK personal tax: it decides whether HMRC can tax your worldwide income or only the income that arises from a UK source. Introduced by Finance Act 2013, Schedule 45 to replace decades of judge-made law, the SRT is a three-stage flowchart driven by days in the UK and ties to the UK. This 2025/26 guide walks through every stage with the day thresholds, the eight Split-Year cases, day-counting traps and a fully worked example for an expat returning after five years overseas.
- Three stages in order: Automatic Overseas → Automatic UK → Sufficient Ties.
- Any single Automatic Overseas Test = non-resident; any single Automatic UK Test = resident.
- If neither is decisive, the Sufficient Ties Test compares UK days against UK ties.
- Split Year Treatment divides one tax year into resident and non-resident parts (8 cases).
- Domicile was abolished for tax in April 2025 — SRT residency rules are unchanged.
How the SRT is structured
The SRT is run in strict order for the tax year (6 April to 5 April). You apply the Automatic Overseas Tests first; if any one is met you are conclusively non-resident and you stop. If none is met you apply the Automatic UK Tests; if any one is met you are conclusively resident and you stop. Only if neither set is decisive do you reach the third stage — the Sufficient Ties Test, which weighs UK days against UK ties on a sliding scale.
This ordering matters because the same set of facts can produce different results depending on the stage at which the test is settled. A person with 40 UK days who works full-time overseas is conclusively non-resident under the third Automatic Overseas Test — they never get to the tie count, even if they have a UK family and a UK home.
Stage 1 — Automatic Overseas Tests
Meeting any one of the following ends the analysis: you are non-resident for the whole tax year.
- First Automatic Overseas Test: fewer than 16 days in the UK in the tax year, and you were UK resident in one or more of the three preceding tax years. In practice this is the "I lived here last year and have now cleanly left" test — almost no presence, plus a recent resident history.
- Second Automatic Overseas Test: fewer than 46 days in the UK in the tax year, and you were non-resident in all three preceding tax years. The "long-term non-resident with the occasional visit" test.
- Third Automatic Overseas Test — full-time work overseas: you work overseas full-time for the whole tax year, and you spend fewer than 91 days in the UK, and fewer than 31 days on which you do three or more hours of work in the UK. "Full-time" means an average of 35+ hours per week, with no significant break (more than 31 days without at least three hours of work, ignoring annual, sick and parenting leave). This is the workhorse test for international assignees.
There is also a death-in-the-year variant (the first test relaxes to a higher day count if you die during the year) and a partner-of-Crown-employee carve-out. The three tests above cover the vast majority of cases.
Stage 2 — Automatic UK Tests
Reach this stage only if no Automatic Overseas Test was met. Meeting any one of these makes you UK resident for the whole tax year.
- First Automatic UK Test — 183-day rule: you spend 183 or more days in the UK in the tax year. This is the historical bright line and still the most widely-known test, but it is only one of three routes into UK residence.
- Second Automatic UK Test — only home: you have a home in the UK for a period of at least 91 consecutive days, at least 30 of which fall inside the tax year, and during that period you have no overseas home, or each overseas home is one in which you are present for fewer than 30 days in the tax year. "Home" is a question of fact — sufficient permanence and personal use; a holiday let in your name is not a home.
- Third Automatic UK Test — full-time UK work: you work full-time in the UK over any 365-day period that touches the tax year, at least 75% of those days have three or more hours of work, and the work day-count rules mirror the overseas equivalent in Stage 1. The classic "moved to London on a permanent contract" case.
Stage 3 — Sufficient Ties Test
If neither Automatic stage is decisive, the SRT compares your UK days against your UK ties. There are five possible ties, of which the country tie only applies to Leavers (people who were UK resident in any of the three previous tax years).
- Family tie: your spouse, civil partner, common-law partner or any minor child of yours is UK resident for the year. (Children at boarding school whose only UK time is term-time visits to you can be carved out under detailed rules.)
- Accommodation tie:you have a place to live in the UK that is available to you for a continuous 91-day period, and you spend at least one night there in the tax year. A parent's spare room, a friend's flat, a hotel suite on long booking — all can count.
- Work tie: you work in the UK on 40 or more days in the tax year, where a work day is one with three or more hours of work.
- 90-day tie: you spent more than 90 days in the UK in either of the previous two tax years. A "ratchet" tie — once you tick over 90 days, it follows you for two years.
- Country tie (Leavers only): the UK is the country in which you spent the greatest number of midnights in the tax year. With only 100 UK days and 95 in any single other country, you have a country tie.
Day thresholds by tie count
Count your ties, then look up the day threshold. If your UK days reach the figure shown you are UK resident; below it you are non-resident.
| UK ties | Arriver (non-resident in all 3 prev years) | Leaver (resident in any of 3 prev years) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 ties | Always non-resident | Always non-resident |
| 1 tie | Not possible to be resident | Resident at 121+ days |
| 2 ties | Resident at 121+ days | Resident at 91+ days |
| 3 ties | Resident at 91+ days | Resident at 46+ days |
| 4 ties | Resident at 46+ days | Resident at 16+ days |
| 5 ties (Leavers only) | N/A | Resident at 16+ days |
Notice how the thresholds tighten sharply for Leavers: a Leaver with three ties needs only 46 UK days to be UK resident, where an Arriver with the same three ties has until 91. The system deliberately makes it harder to break UK residence than to acquire it.
Split Year Treatment — the eight cases
A tax year is, by default, indivisible: you are either resident or non-resident for the whole 12 months. Split Year Treatment is a statutory exception that carves the year into a UK-resident part and a non-resident overseas part. There are eight cases, applied in priority order; the first that fits governs the split.
Leaving the UK:
- Case 1 — Starting full-time work overseas. You leave during the year and meet the third Automatic Overseas Test for the year of departure-plus-one.
- Case 2 — Partner of someone in Case 1. You accompany or join a partner starting full-time work overseas.
- Case 3 — Ceasing to have a UK home. You dispose of your only UK home and spend fewer than 16 UK days after departure.
Arriving in the UK:
- Case 4 — Starting to have a UK home only. You acquire a sole UK home during the year and meet the only-home Automatic UK Test from that date.
- Case 5 — Starting full-time work in the UK. You begin a UK contract that satisfies the third Automatic UK Test from a date in the year.
- Case 6 — Ceasing full-time work overseas. The mirror of Case 1: you were non-resident under FTWO, then return to the UK.
- Case 7 — Partner of someone in Case 6. You accompany a partner who is returning under Case 6.
- Case 8 — Starting to have a UK home. You acquire a UK home during the year, without yet meeting Case 4's "only home" condition.
Each case has its own conditions about prior-year residence and the exact split date. Split-year is not optional — it applies automatically when its conditions are met. The overseas part of the year is treated broadly as non-resident, so foreign income arising in that part normally escapes UK tax altogether.
Worked example — expat returning April 2026 after 5 years overseas
Facts.James left the UK on 1 May 2021 to take up a full-time job in Dubai. From 2021/22 to 2025/26 inclusive he was non-resident under the third Automatic Overseas Test (full-time work overseas, <91 UK days each year, <31 UK working days). His UK family home was rented out throughout. He resigns his Dubai role and returns to start a London role on 1 August 2026 (tax year 2026/27).
Stage 1 — Automatic Overseas. For 2026/27 James is not full-time overseas (he stops working in Dubai on 31 July). He spends well over 46 days in the UK after returning. None of the three tests apply.
Stage 2 — Automatic UK. James starts a permanent London role on 1 August 2026 that runs continuously through and beyond the 365-day window. He works 35+ hours per week, 75% of those days involve 3+ hours of UK work — he meets the third Automatic UK Test. Conclusion: UK resident for 2026/27.
Stage 3 — Sufficient Ties Test. Not reached, because Stage 2 already settled the result.
Split Year Treatment. James qualifies under Case 5 (starting full-time work in the UK). The split date is the first day of the 365-day qualifying work period — broadly 1 August 2026. The overseas part (6 April – 31 July 2026) is treated as non-resident, so his Dubai salary, gulf-region bank interest and any foreign gains realised before 1 August fall outside UK tax. The UK part (1 August 2026 – 5 April 2027) brings his worldwide income inside UK tax on the arising basis.
Interaction with FIG. James was non-resident for only five consecutive years (2021/22 to 2025/26), short of the ten years required for the new 4-year Foreign Income and Gains regime. He does not qualify for FIG. From 1 August 2026 his worldwide income is fully UK-taxable, with Foreign Tax Credit Relief for any foreign tax actually paid.
Day-counting rules in detail
The single most disputed area of the SRT is the day count. Three rules govern it.
- Midnight test. A day counts if you are physically in the UK at the end of that day (midnight). Arriving at 7am and leaving at 11pm = zero days; arriving at 11pm and leaving the next day at 6am = one day.
- Transit-day exception. A midnight present in the UK is ignored if you arrived from one overseas country, leave the next day for another overseas country, and did nothing in the UK beyond what is incidental to your transit (sleeping, eating, changing terminals).
- Deeming rule. For Leavers who have at least three UK ties in the year and have at least 30 "qualifying days" (days in the UK that fall outside the midnight test but on which you were here during the day), additional deemed days are added back into the count. Designed to stop "11.59pm dashes" to the airport.
- Exceptional circumstances. Up to 60 days in a tax year can be disregarded if your presence in the UK was beyond your control: serious illness, war, civil unrest, natural disaster, the illness or death of a close relative. Routine flight cancellation, weather and work commitments do not count.
Domicile abolition (April 2025+) — SRT unchanged
From 6 April 2025 the concept of domicile for tax purposes was abolished. The remittance basis is gone, replaced by a 4-year FIG regime; Inheritance Tax now hinges on long-term residence (resident for 10 of the last 20 tax years). What did not change is the SRT itself — the residence rules in FA 2013 Sch.45 are exactly the same as they were in 2013. Anyone telling you otherwise has confused two different reforms.
In fact the SRT is now more important than before. Under the old regime, a UK-resident non-dom could shelter foreign income on the remittance basis regardless of how the SRT result arose. Under the new regime the FIG relief — which is the only meaningful shelter left — depends entirely on the SRT result for both the qualifying year and the ten preceding years. The SRT is now the gatekeeper to the most generous personal-tax relief in the UK system.
The new 4-year FIG regime relies on SRT residency
Eligibility for the Foreign Income and Gains regime is determined entirely by SRT residence:
- You must become UK resident under the SRT in a tax year on or after 2025/26.
- You must have been non-resident under the SRT for at least 10 consecutive prior tax years.
- The relief applies for the first four tax years of UK residence.
- Each year's SRT result must be re-tested; if you become non-resident mid-window and then re-arrive, special continuity rules apply.
For full mechanical detail see our companion guide on UK Tax on Foreign Income.
Dual residence and treaty tie-breakers
The SRT decides UK domesticresidence. Many other countries have their own residence tests — Spain's 183-day rule, Ireland's 183-day plus 280-day-over-two-years rule, the US substantial presence test, Germany's habitual abode test — and you can perfectly well meet two of them in the same calendar year. When that happens, the relevant Double Tax Treaty contains a residence article (typically Article 4) with a hierarchy of tie-breaker tests applied in strict order: permanent home available to you, centre of vital interests (personal and economic ties), habitual abode, nationality and, as a last resort, mutual agreement procedure between the two tax authorities.
The crucial point is that treaty residence and SRT residence are not the same thing. You can be UK resident under the SRT yet treaty-resident in (say) the United Arab Emirates under the UK–UAE treaty, in which case most foreign-source income escapes UK taxation under the treaty's allocation rules — even though, strictly, you remain a UK resident for domestic-law purposes. Treaty residence claims are made on SA109 (Residence pages) and require you to specify both the treaty article and the relevant facts. HMRC scrutinises these claims carefully; the burden of proof sits squarely with the taxpayer.
Common pitfalls and planning points
Decades of advising on residence questions surface the same handful of recurring errors. Avoiding them is usually the difference between a clean SRT result and a long HMRC enquiry.
- Counting days inconsistently. The midnight test is the default for the SRT, but other reliefs (such as the 90-day test for Private Residence Relief on a foreign home) use different definitions. Pick the right rule for each test and document it.
- Treating airline data as authoritative. Boarding-pass scans, eVoucher emails and credit-card receipts in the foreign country are stronger evidence than any single airline record. Keep them all; HMRC will ask.
- Ignoring the accommodation tie.A spare bedroom at your parents' house is an accommodation tie if it is available for a continuous 91-day period and you sleep there even once. People routinely tick the family-and-work-tie boxes and forget the accommodation tie that tips them over the threshold.
- Misjudging full-time work overseas. A 30-day gap with no work — even paid annual leave taken in a single block — can break "no significant break" if not structured carefully. Plan leave around the 31-day window.
- Overlooking the deeming rule. Leavers with three or more ties and 30+ qualifying-day visits cannot rely on the midnight test alone — extra days are added back.
- Assuming citizenship matters. It does not. A British citizen who has lived abroad for 20 years and has no UK ties is simply non-resident; a Brazilian citizen who satisfies the third Automatic UK Test from a London contract is fully UK resident.
- Forgetting the four-year FIG clock. If you do qualify for FIG, the clock starts the moment SRT residence does. Disposing of foreign assets, drawing down offshore portfolios and bringing funds onshore should all be sequenced inside the four-year window.
HMRC references and where to dig deeper
- RDR3 — Guidance Note: Statutory Residence Test (SRT) — HMRC's definitive 100+ page guidance, with every definition, deeming rule and worked example.
- SRT online checker at gov.uk — a triage tool only; not a binding determination.
- Finance Act 2013, Schedule 45 — the underlying statute.
- HMRC manual RDRM — Residence, Domicile and Remittance Manual, internal HMRC guidance now public.
- For close calls, keep a contemporaneous day-count log with boarding-pass evidence: HMRC routinely requests it on residence enquiries, and the burden of proof is on the taxpayer.