🇬🇧 Tax residency in United Kingdom

The UK does not decide residency on day count alone. The framework is the Statutory Residence Test (SRT), and it works in tiers.

The hard trigger is 183 days: spend that long in the UK in a tax year (6 April to 5 April) and you are resident, full stop. Below 183 days, the SRT combines your day count with the number of UK ties you have: accommodation available to you in the UK, a spouse or civil partner or minor children resident here, substantive work in the UK, and significant time spent in the UK in previous tax years. The fewer days you spend, the more ties you can carry before tipping into residency; the more days, the fewer ties it takes. There are also automatic overseas and automatic UK tests that can settle the question before ties are even counted. HMRC publishes the full test with exact day bands; if you are anywhere near the boundaries, work through it properly rather than relying on the 183 number.

Residents are taxed on worldwide income. The top marginal rate is 45%, and capital gains and dividends are taxed as well under their own rate schedules. Every income stream you have, wherever it arises, is potentially in scope once you are resident.

For new arrivals there is the Foreign Income and Gains (FIG) regime, in place since April 2025. If you were not UK resident in any of the previous 10 tax years, you can claim a 4-year exemption on foreign income and gains, and you can bring that money into the UK during those four years without UK tax on it. UK-source income stays taxable throughout, and once the four years end you are on normal worldwide taxation.

On treaties: the US and UK have an income tax treaty in force, which provides credit relief so the same income is not taxed in full twice; US citizens file US returns on worldwide income regardless of where they live. The Germany-UK double tax treaty likewise exists to prevent double taxation. A treaty rarely makes income exempt outright; it allocates taxing rights and provides credits, so treat it as double-taxation protection, not a tax break.

An accountant is worth engaging when the SRT outcome is not obvious from a clean read of your facts, when you hold foreign investments or multiple income sources, or when you are deciding whether to claim the FIG regime, since claiming it interacts with other reliefs and the decision is not always one-way.

If you are over 183 days, plan as a resident. Below that, count your ties before you count your savings.

This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or tax advice.