The UK Statutory Residence Test: Days, Ties and Traps
How HMRC decides UK tax residency: automatic overseas tests, automatic UK tests, and the sufficient-ties table that can make you resident on as few as 16 days.
Since April 2013 the UK has used the Statutory Residence Test (SRT). It still uses 183 days — but only as one of several automatic tests. In between the automatic tests sits the "sufficient ties" table, which is where most mobile people actually land.
Step 1: automatic overseas tests (non-resident)
You are automatically not UK resident for a tax year (6 April to 5 April) if any of these apply:
- You were UK resident in one or more of the previous three tax years and spend fewer than 16 days in the UK.
- You were not UK resident in any of the previous three tax years and spend fewer than 46 days in the UK.
- You work full-time overseas, spend fewer than 91 days in the UK, and work in the UK (more than three hours) on fewer than 31 days.
Step 2: automatic UK tests (resident)
If no automatic overseas test applies, you are automatically UK resident if:
- You spend 183 days or more in the UK in the tax year; or
- Your only home (or one of your homes) is in the UK for a qualifying period and you are present there on at least 30 days; or
- You work full-time in the UK for a qualifying 365-day period.
Step 3: the sufficient-ties test
If neither set of automatic tests settles it, count your UK ties:
- Family tie — spouse/partner or minor children resident in the UK.
- Accommodation tie — available UK accommodation used at least one night (special rules for relatives' homes).
- Work tie — 40 or more UK workdays of more than three hours.
- 90-day tie — more than 90 UK days in either of the previous two tax years.
- Country tie (leavers only) — the UK is the country where you spent the most midnights.
| UK days in tax year | Leaver (resident in 1+ of prior 3 years) | Arriver (not resident in prior 3 years) |
|---|---|---|
| 16–45 | 4 ties needed | Always non-resident |
| 46–90 | 3 ties | 4 ties |
| 91–120 | 2 ties | 3 ties |
| 121–182 | 1 tie | 2 ties |
Counting UK days
A day counts if you are in the UK at midnight. There is a narrow transit exception, a limited "exceptional circumstances" allowance, and a "deeming rule" that can count days without a midnight for people with three or more ties and more than 30 such days.
Split-year treatment
If you arrive or leave part-way through a tax year, split-year treatment can treat the year as two parts, with only the UK part taxed as resident. It has eight different cases with strict conditions.
Try it
Use the UK SRT quick check for a first view, and HMRC's guidance note RDR3 for the full rules.
Source: HMRC RDR3 "Statutory Residence Test". Simplified summary; not advice.