Self Assessment

Do I need to file a UK tax return as a Canadian living in the UK?

Answered by Jordan Onraet-Wells, Founder & Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA). Published 28 September 2026. Last reviewed 28 September 2026.

The short answer

Often, yes. A UK salary taxed under PAYE does not by itself put you into Self Assessment, but Canadian income that is taxable in the UK does: rent from a Canadian property, RRSP or RRIF withdrawals, and the interest, dividends and gains inside a TFSA. If you want the 4-year FIG regime to shelter that Canadian income, you must claim it on a Self Assessment return each year, so the claim itself requires a return.

Once you are UK resident under the Statutory Residence Test, the UK taxes your worldwide income and gains by default, including Canadian rent, dividends, interest, capital gains and RRSP or RRIF withdrawals.
GOV.UK lists foreign income as a reason you may need to file; a PAYE salary with no other income usually does not require a return.
The 4-year FIG regime is not automatic: you claim it for each source, each year, on your Self Assessment return, and you give up the Personal Allowance and the CGT annual exempt amount in any year you claim.
A TFSA is not tax free in the UK, so its income and gains need reporting once you are resident unless a FIG claim covers them.
Tell HMRC by 5 October after the end of the first tax year in which you have income to report; for 2025/26 income that date is 5 October 2026.
Split-year treatment and the FIG claim both go on the SA109 residence pages, which HMRC's free online service cannot file.

When a Canadian in the UK needs a return

The trigger is not your passport, it is your income. Once the Statutory Residence Test makes you UK resident, the UK's default is the arising basis: it taxes your worldwide income and gains, so Canadian rental income, dividends, interest and capital gains all come into scope, along with withdrawals from an RRSP or RRIF once you are resident here. Any of those is foreign income that HMRC cannot collect through PAYE, and GOV.UK lists foreign income among the reasons you may need to send a return. A UK job taxed through PAYE with nothing else attached usually does not require one. The full picture of what becomes taxable, and when, is in our moving to the UK from Canada guide.

The FIG claim is the reason most Canadians file

If you were non-UK resident for the previous 10 tax years, the 4-year FIG regime can give 100% relief on qualifying Canadian income and gains for your first four UK-resident years. It is not automatic. You must claim it for each source of income or gain, in each tax year, on your Self Assessment return, so anyone who wants the relief is in Self Assessment by definition. In any year you claim you lose your Personal Allowance and your CGT annual exempt amount, which is why the claim deserves modelling in a low-foreign-income year rather than being ticked out of habit. Relief only applies to foreign income and gains arising on or after 6 April 2025, and the four-year clock runs whether or not you claim.

Registering and the pages you need

Register as soon as you know a return is due: the deadline is 5 October after the end of the tax year in which the income first arose, and HMRC issues a Unique Taxpayer Reference by post. A Canadian arrival's return is usually the SA100 main return plus the SA106 foreign pages for Canadian income and the SA109 residence pages, where residence status, split-year treatment and the FIG claim are all recorded. HMRC's free online service does not support the SA109, so the return goes in on paper by 31 October, through commercial software by 31 January, or through an agent. Our expat Self Assessment guide walks through registration, the forms and the deadlines.

Go deeper

Sources and further reading

This is general information for the 2026/27 UK tax year, not personal tax advice; speak to a Chartered Tax Adviser about your own position.

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