The UK statutory residence test (SRT) determines whether an individual is UK tax resident for a given tax year (6 April to 5 April). It is applied in a fixed order: the automatic overseas tests first, then the automatic UK tests, and only if neither block resolves the position does one move to the sufficient ties test. Each stage turns on day counts, workday counts, and specific factual ties. Split year treatment can then divide a single tax year into a UK part and an overseas part where a person genuinely arrives or departs mid-year.
Residence matters because a UK resident is, by default, taxed on worldwide income and gains on the arising basis. As of 2026, the old non-domicile remittance basis has been replaced by the Foreign Income and Gains (FIG) regime, which gives qualifying new arrivals a four-year exemption on qualifying foreign income and gains but only if they were non-resident for the previous ten consecutive tax years. Whether the FIG election is even available in a given year turns on the SRT.
How the SRT is structured
The SRT is a decision tree, not a scoring system. The tests are checked in order and the first test that gives a definitive answer determines residence for the whole tax year:
- Step 1 — Automatic overseas tests. If any one applies, the individual is non-resident. Stop.
- Step 2 — Automatic UK tests. If none of the overseas tests applied and any one UK test applies, the individual is resident. Stop.
- Step 3 — Sufficient ties test. If neither step resolved the position, count ties and compare to a day-band table that differs for arrivers and leavers.
A single UK-day for SRT purposes is normally a day where the person is present in the UK at midnight, with a limited transit exception and a deeming rule for people with many UK ties who make repeated same-day visits.
Automatic overseas tests
Any one of the following makes a person non-resident, regardless of any other factor:
- Test 1 — the 16-day leaver test. UK resident in one or more of the previous three tax years and fewer than 16 days in the UK in the current year.
- Test 2 — the 46-day arriver test. Not UK resident in any of the previous three tax years and fewer than 46 days in the UK in the current year.
- Test 3 — full-time work overseas. Works sufficient hours overseas across the tax year (an average of 35 or more per week under a specific calculation), with fewer than 91 days in the UK and fewer than 31 of those being days on which more than three hours of work is done in the UK.
These are hard cliffs. A leaver who spends day 16 in the UK loses the 16-day test even by a single midnight. A person relying on the full-time work overseas test loses it if they take an extended UK trip or if a significant break of 31 or more consecutive days without three hours of overseas work falls in the reference period. Because these tests are the cleanest way to sever UK residence, leavers usually structure the first full non-resident tax year around either Test 1 or Test 3.
Automatic UK tests
If no overseas test applies, a person is automatically UK resident if any one of the following applies:
- Test 1 — 183 days. Present in the UK for 183 or more days in the tax year. This is the most cited threshold and it is a floor, not a ceiling: it does not follow that fewer than 183 days is enough to be non-resident.
- Test 2 — the only-home test. Has only a home (or homes) in the UK for a continuous period of at least 91 days that falls partly or wholly in the tax year, is present in that UK home on at least 30 days in the tax year, and has no overseas home meeting the equivalent presence threshold. This is the trap for people who let out their overseas property or stop using it.
- Test 3 — full-time work in the UK. Works sufficient hours in the UK over a 365-day period, with at least 75% of workdays in that period being UK workdays and at least one UK workday in the tax year.
Test 2 catches many taxpayers who assume that keeping a UK flat as their weekday base and travelling constantly makes them non-resident. If the flat is their only home for a long enough continuous period and they set foot in it on 30 or more days, they are UK resident on that ground alone.
The sufficient ties test
Where the automatic tests do not settle the position, the SRT counts ties and compares the count to a day-band table. Five ties exist, but leavers can use all five while arrivers can only use four.
The five ties
- Family tie. Spouse, civil partner, cohabiting partner, or minor child who is UK resident for the tax year (subject to exceptions for children in full-time education overseas).
- Accommodation tie. A place to live in the UK available for a continuous period of at least 91 days in the tax year and where the person spends at least one night. A stay with a close relative counts only if the person spends 16 or more nights there.
- Work tie. 40 or more days in the tax year on which more than three hours of work is done in the UK.
- 90-day tie. Spent more than 90 days in the UK in either of the previous two tax years.
- Country tie (leavers only). The UK is the country in which the person spent the greatest number of midnights in the tax year. Available only to those who were UK resident in one or more of the previous three tax years.
Day thresholds — arrivers
An arriver is a person who was not UK resident in any of the previous three tax years. Only four ties are available.
| Days in UK | Ties needed to be UK resident |
|---|---|
| Fewer than 46 | Always non-resident (Automatic Overseas Test 2) |
| 46-90 | All 4 ties |
| 91-120 | 3 or more ties |
| 121-182 | 2 or more ties |
| 183 or more | Automatically resident |
Day thresholds — leavers
A leaver was UK resident in one or more of the previous three tax years. All five ties are available.
| Days in UK | Ties needed to be UK resident |
|---|---|
| Fewer than 16 | Always non-resident (Automatic Overseas Test 1) |
| 16-45 | 4 or more ties |
| 46-90 | 3 or more ties |
| 91-120 | 2 or more ties |
| 121-182 | 1 or more tie |
| 183 or more | Automatically resident |
Leavers face a harsher table than arrivers. Someone who was UK resident until last year and keeps a UK flat, a UK-resident spouse, and 91 UK days will already have three ties and be resident. The rule of thumb that many long-term residents rely on "if I keep below 90 days I'm fine" is only true when very few ties remain.
Counting a UK day
The default rule is that a person spends a UK day if they are in the UK at the end of the day (midnight). Two important overlays modify this:
- Transit days. A day spent in the UK only for practical travel purposes (arrive from overseas, leave for overseas the next day, no substantive activities) does not count.
- The deeming rule. For a person with at least three UK ties who has been UK resident in one or more of the previous three tax years, days on which they are present in the UK at any point during the day (not just midnight) count once the total of such extra "present but not at midnight" days exceeds 30 in the tax year. This is designed to catch same-day commuters who sleep in France and work in London.
- Exceptional circumstances. Up to 60 days can be disregarded where presence in the UK is due to exceptional circumstances beyond the person's control (typically serious illness or a family emergency). The bar is high and record-keeping matters.
Split year cases
Split year treatment does not change residence for the year — the person is still UK resident overall — but it splits the tax year into a UK part (taxed as resident) and an overseas part (taxed as if non-resident). Eight cases exist. In outline:
- Cases 1-3 — leaving the UK. Case 1 covers those who start full-time work overseas. Case 2 covers accompanying partners of those in Case 1. Case 3 covers those who cease to have any UK home.
- Cases 4-8 — coming to the UK. Case 4 covers those who start to have a UK home only. Case 5 covers those who start full-time work in the UK. Case 6 covers those who cease full-time work overseas. Case 7 covers accompanying partners of Case 6. Case 8 covers those who start to have a UK home.
Priority rules apply where more than one case could fit. Split year is not automatic — the specific case's conditions must be met, and the overseas part must run to the end of the tax year for arrivers or from the start of the tax year for leavers. For someone weighing whether to trigger UK residence mid-year, split year Cases 1 and 3 for departure and Cases 4, 5 and 8 for arrival are the ones that most often determine the shape of a move.
Records that survive an HMRC enquiry
The SRT is fact-heavy and the burden of proof sits with the taxpayer. The records HMRC most commonly asks for in an enquiry are the same records that make the tests tractable in the first place. At a minimum, a person relying on the SRT should keep:
- A dated log of every UK entry and exit, ideally reconciled monthly against passport stamps, airline booking references, and calendar entries.
- Boarding passes, tickets, and hotel invoices for both UK and overseas travel — enough to reconstruct where every midnight was spent.
- For the full-time work overseas test: a workday log showing hours per day, location, and the nature of the work. Bank card records and mobile phone location data are corroborative but not sufficient on their own.
- For the only-home test: dated evidence of overseas home availability and use (utility bills, rental agreements, cleaner invoices, photos).
- For the accommodation tie: rental agreements or evidence that a friend or relative did not make accommodation available on a stable basis.
- For exceptional circumstances: contemporaneous medical or official documentation. Retrospective letters carry little weight.
Where a taxpayer wants to rely on Automatic Overseas Test 3 or the country tie, a spreadsheet reconstructed years later will not carry the day. Contemporaneous records are effectively a precondition for defending a marginal position.
Interaction with the wider UK regime
Residence under the SRT is the gateway to a series of downstream questions. As of 2026, a UK resident is taxed on worldwide income and gains on the arising basis, with a headline income tax rate of up to 45% in England and different bands in Scotland, and capital gains at 18% or 24% depending on the taxpayer's other income and the asset class. Dividends are taxed at 8.75% to 39.35% within their own dividend allowance, and inheritance tax operates on a residence-based basis for long-term residents (in scope on worldwide assets after ten of the last twenty UK tax years). See the United Kingdom country profile for the current schedule.
New arrivals who meet the ten-year non-residence condition can elect into the FIG regime for their first four UK tax years. The election is annual and must be made each year in the self-assessment return. Prior remittance-basis users can use the Temporary Repatriation Facility to designate pre-6 April 2025 foreign income and gains at 12% during 2025-26 and 2026-27, rising to 15% for 2027-28. Both interact directly with the SRT: the four years are counted from the first UK-resident tax year under the SRT.
None of these downstream rates is fixed forever. Verify the current schedule with HMRC or a UK tax adviser before acting on figures more than a year old.
Where to go next
For the UK's current rates, special regimes, and residence rules, see the United Kingdom country profile. For the abolition of the non-dom regime and the FIG replacement in full, read the UK non-dom abolition guide. For the mechanics of how tax residency works across jurisdictions, the how tax residency works guide sits above this one. Those weighing a departure often compare with the UK-to-Dubai move or use the compare tool to weigh alternatives. General questions are collected in the FAQ. This article is informational only and is not a substitute for advice from a qualified UK tax adviser on a specific set of facts.