Residence decides it, not your address
The UK taxes you because you are UK tax resident, and residence is decided by the Statutory Residence Test, not by where your post goes. Until you are non-resident, HMRC taxes your worldwide income, including anything you earn in Hungary. The cleanest exit is the full-time work abroad route: work full time in Hungary, spend fewer than 91 days in the UK in the tax year and keep UK workdays below 31. If you leave part-way through a tax year, split-year treatment can treat you as non-resident from the day you go. It is claimed on the SA109 pages of your Self Assessment return; the P85 alone does not do it.
What the UK keeps taxing after you leave
Non-residence does not switch off UK tax completely. UK rental profits remain taxable under the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme, UK government service pensions usually stay taxable in the UK, and gains on UK property must be reported and paid within 60 days under the non-resident capital gains rules. Two tails deserve respect. If you return to the UK within five years, the temporary non-residence rules can tax gains and certain income you realised while away in your year of return. And since 6 April 2025 inheritance tax has been residence based, so a long-term UK resident can stay exposed on worldwide assets for up to 10 years after leaving.
What Hungary charges instead
Hungary is not a tax haven; it taxes residents on worldwide income. The attraction is the rate: a flat 15% personal income tax on salary, dividends and capital gains, and the EU's lowest corporation tax at 9% (companies also pay a municipal local business tax capped at 2%). Employees also pay an 18.5% social security contribution and employers a 13% social contribution tax, so the true wedge on salary is bigger than the headline suggests. The UK-Hungary double taxation convention, in force since 28 December 2011, settles which country taxes what. The mechanics, timings and traps are covered in our full guide to UK tax when moving to Hungary.