Tax residency rule, United Kingdom

UK Tax Residence (SRT)

Summary

The UK decides tax residence with the Statutory Residence Test. It counts the midnights you spend in the UK in a tax year, which runs from 6 April to 5 April. With 183 days or more you are resident. Below that, your limit is 15, 45, 90, 120 or 182 days, and it depends on your ties to the UK and on whether you were resident in any of the 3 tax years before. A UK resident is normally taxed on income and gains from the whole world. HMRC, the UK tax authority, applies the test.

Limit
15, 45, 90, 120 or 182 days, set by your UK ties and your past residence
Period
The UK tax year, 6 April to 5 April
A day counts when
You are in the UK at the end of the day (midnight)
Always resident from
183 days in the tax year
Law
Finance Act 2013, Schedule 45
Run by
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

Who it applies to

The rule

The Statutory Residence Test is in Schedule 45 of the Finance Act 2013 and has applied since 6 April 2013. It has three parts, checked in order. First come the automatic overseas tests (paragraphs 12 to 14). You are not resident if you were resident in one or more of the 3 tax years before and spend fewer than 16 days in the UK, or if you were resident in none of those years and spend fewer than 46 days. You are also not resident if you work full-time abroad, spend fewer than 91 days in the UK and work more than 3 hours in the UK on fewer than 31 days.

If none of those tests is met, the automatic UK tests come next (paragraphs 7 to 9). You are resident if you spend 183 days or more in the UK. You are also resident if your only home is in the UK: you have it for at least 91 days in a row and you are present in it on at least 30 days in the tax year. The third test covers full-time work in the UK over a period of 365 days.

If no automatic test decides your case, the sufficient ties test does (paragraphs 17 to 19). A tie is a link to the UK that the law lists. The family tie is a partner or a child under 18 who is UK resident. The accommodation tie is a place to live that is available for 91 days in a row and where you spend at least one night, or 16 nights if it is the home of a close relative. The work tie is 40 or more days with more than 3 hours of work in the UK. The 90-day tie is more than 90 days in the UK in one of the 2 tax years before. The country tie, only for people who were resident in one of the 3 years before, means you spent more midnights in the UK than in any other single country.

If you were resident in one or more of the 3 tax years before, you are resident with 4 ties at 16 to 45 days, 3 ties at 46 to 90 days, 2 ties at 91 to 120 days, and 1 tie above 120 days. If you were resident in none of them, you are resident with 4 ties at 46 to 90 days, 3 ties at 91 to 120 days, and 2 ties above 120 days. This is where the limits of 15, 45, 90, 120 and 182 days come from.

The day count is only one part. Your ties, your homes and your work decide which limit is yours, and HMRC looks at all the facts of the year. If another country also treats you as resident, the tax treaty between the two countries decides where you are resident for the treaty.

Why it exists

Before 2013 UK tax residence came from court cases and HMRC practice, and people could not be sure of their status. The Statutory Residence Test replaced that with written tests and fixed day numbers. The state wants people with a real link to the UK to pay UK tax on their income from the whole world. That is why the limit is lower for people who were resident before and for people who keep more ties.

Counting the days

You count days in the UK inside one tax year, from 6 April to 5 April. A day counts when you are in the UK at the end of it, so in practice you count midnights.

  1. Take the tax year you want to check, for example 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027.
  2. Mark each day on which you were in the UK at midnight. The day you arrive counts if you stay the night. The day you leave does not.
  3. Check whether you were UK resident in any of the 3 tax years before. This decides which table you use.
  4. Count your UK ties for the year: family, accommodation, work, 90-day and, if you were resident before, country.
  5. Find your limit in the table for your number of ties, and compare your midnights with it.
  6. If you have 3 or more ties and were resident in one of the 3 years before, also count the days you were in the UK but left before midnight. Every such day after the 30th is added to your total.
How Countr counts it. Countr counts midnights in each tax year from 6 April to 5 April. A day counts only when your evidence shows you were still in the UK when the day ended. Day trips do not count, and nights that your photos or location history do not show are not counted either, so with thin evidence your real total can be higher. You pick your limit: 15, 45, 90, 120 or 182 midnights, and a planner in the app helps you choose it from your ties. You can set a different limit for each tax year. Countr compares your days with that limit and warns you 14 days before it. It does not decide tax residence. It does not apply the automatic tests, and it does not work out exceptional circumstances, transit days, the extra days from day trips or split-year treatment.

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Examples

A leaver with two ties who stays under 91 days

Ana lived in the UK for 8 years and moved to Lisbon in March 2025. In the tax year from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027 she keeps a flat in Manchester and sleeps there, and she spent more than 90 days in the UK in the tax year from 6 April 2024, one of the 2 years before. That gives her 2 ties: accommodation and 90-day. With 2 ties and past residence she becomes resident at 91 days, so her limit is 90. She spends 88 midnights in the UK. Under the ties test she is not resident for 2026 to 2027.

An arriver with three ties who goes over

Kenji was never UK resident. In the tax year from 6 April 2026 he rents a London flat for the full year, his wife becomes UK resident, and he works in the UK on 50 days. That is 3 ties: accommodation, family and work. For someone with no residence in the 3 years before, 3 ties make you resident at 91 days. Kenji spends 95 midnights in the UK, so he is resident for the tax year.

Day trips that add days

Maria was UK resident last year and has 3 ties, so she becomes resident at 46 days. She spends 40 midnights in the UK and thinks she is safe. She also flew in for work on 38 other days and left each time before midnight. Because she has 3 ties and was resident in one of the 3 years before, each such day after the 30th counts. That adds 8 days. Her total is 48, which is over her limit of 45, and she is resident.

Exceptions

Common misconceptions

“I am only UK resident if I spend 183 days there.”
183 days makes you resident in every case, but most people become resident much earlier. With 4 ties and past residence the line is 16 days. With one tie it is 121 days.
“A day trip never counts, because I do not stay the night.”
Normally a day without a midnight does not count. But if you have 3 or more ties and were resident in one of the 3 years before, each such day after the 30th does count.
“If I stay under my day limit, I cannot be resident.”
The automatic UK tests can make you resident with fewer days, for example when your only home is in the UK or when you work full-time there.

Questions and answers

Does the day I arrive in the UK count for the Statutory Residence Test?

Yes, if you are still in the UK at midnight that day. The day you leave does not count, because you are not in the UK when it ends.

How many days can I spend in the UK without becoming tax resident?

It depends on your ties and your past residence. The possible limits are 15, 45, 90, 120 and 182 days in a tax year. If you were resident in one of the 3 tax years before and have 4 ties, you can only spend 15 days.

What happens if I go over my limit by one day?

The test has no margin. One day over the limit makes you resident for the full tax year under the ties test. Only the transit rule or exceptional circumstances can take days out of the count.

Does a new tax year reset my day count?

Yes. Each tax year is counted on its own from 6 April. But your past years still matter: residence in any of the 3 tax years before, and more than 90 days in one of the 2 years before, both make your limit lower.

Can I be UK resident and resident in another country in the same year?

Yes. Each country applies its own law. If both treat you as resident, the tax treaty between them decides where you are resident for the treaty and which country can tax which income.

Sources

Read more: The 183-day rule: what it means and what it does not.

Other rules for United Kingdom

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This page explains the rule and how the days are counted. It is not legal or tax advice. The authority decides each case on its own facts.