United Kingdom

Individual - Residence

Last reviewed - 24 June 2021

The statutory residence test (SRT) for individuals has been effective since 6 April 2013.

An individual will be resident in the United Kingdom for a tax year if they meet the ‘automatic residence test’ or the ‘sufficient tie test’. If they meet neither test, they will be non-UK resident. The automatic residence test is met if they meet at least one of the ‘automatic UK tests’ and none of the ‘automatic overseas tests’. Each of those tests and the underlying elements are defined to some extent, and HMRC have produced extensive guidance.

There are four ‘automatic UK tests’:

Spending at least 183 days in the United Kingdom in the year. An individual will be present if they were in the United Kingdom at the end of the day unless they were only in the United Kingdom for either exceptional circumstances or they were between arrival and departure. These exceptions are subject to an additional 'deeming rule' that looks at the individual’s presence in the United Kingdom, their ties to the United Kingdom, and their UK residency position in the prior three tax years. Where the deeming rule applies, any of these days in excess of 30 days will be treated as days in the United Kingdom for the 183 count.
The individual’s only home is in the United Kingdom for at least 91 days in the year.
Working full-time in the United Kingdom for a period of 365 days, and, during that period, there are no significant breaks from UK work and all or part of that period falls within the year; where full time work is on average 35 hours or more per week over the period.
Dying in a tax year when you were previously automatically resident for the previous three tax years and where the individual had a home in the United Kingdom.
There are four ‘automatic overseas tests’:

If the individual was UK resident in one or more of the three prior tax years and they spent less than 16 days in the United Kingdom in the year in question.
If the individual was not UK resident in any of the three prior tax years and they spent less than 46 days in the United Kingdom in the year in question.
If the individual works full-time overseas in the year in question, they spend less than 31 days working in the United Kingdom, and they spend less than 91 days in the United Kingdom; where a UK workday is a day on which an individual works more than three hours in the United Kingdom.
Dying in a tax year when the individual was not UK resident in any of the two prior tax years and they spent less than 46 days in the United Kingdom in the year in question.
The ‘sufficient ties’ test is met if the individual does not meet either the automatic UK tests or the automatic overseas test but has ‘sufficient UK ties’ in a year. The ties are effectively connections with the United Kingdom involving family, accommodation, work, 90-days spent in the United Kingdom in previous tax years, or if the United Kingdom is the country in which an individual spends most of their time.

If an individual has been UK resident for one or more of the preceding three tax years, they have to consider all of those ties; otherwise, they can ignore the country tie. The more days an individual spends in the United Kingdom, the fewer UK ties are needed for them to pass the sufficient ties test, ranging from one tie if they spend more than 120 days in the United Kingdom to four ties if they spend fewer than 46 days in the United Kingdom.

The principle of ‘ordinary residence’ was abolished in April 2013.

See the Significant developments section for the impact of COVID-19 on residence days.

Determining domicile
If an individual is domiciled outside the United Kingdom, this has a significant impact on their UK tax status under current legislation. An individual’s domicile is usually the country or state in which they have their permanent home and typically follows that of their father. As an example, a person whose family came from France and continues to have ties to France is likely to be considered as domiciled in France, even if they have lived in the United Kingdom for a number of years, provided they can demonstrate to HMRC when and in what circumstances they will return to France. The individual must have strong evidence to be able to demonstrate they do not intend to reside in the United Kingdom permanently or HMRC are likely to contend they have a domicile of choice in the United Kingdom.

Domicile is an area that HMRC are looking into very closely and are raising enquiries into claims for non-UK domicile status.

The United Kingdom now has the concept of deemed domiciled for all UK taxes as of 6 April 2017 once an individual has been UK resident for 15 out of the previous 20 tax years.