Non-Doms & Inbound

If I stay non-UK resident this tax year, does it still use up one of my four FIG years?

Answered by Jordan Onraet-Wells, Founder & Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA). Published 17 August 2026. Last reviewed 17 August 2026.

The short answer

It depends on whether your four-year window has started. If you have not yet become UK resident, staying non-resident costs you nothing: the FIG window only begins with your first UK-resident tax year after at least 10 consecutive non-resident years, so delaying arrival simply delays the start of the clock. But once the window has started, it never pauses. A non-resident year inside the four cannot be claimed, is not added back at the end, and the clock keeps running through it.

The window is fixed as your first UK-resident tax year after 10 consecutive non-resident years plus the three tax years immediately following it.
A non-resident year before that first resident year burns nothing; the clock has not started.
Mid-window the rule reverses: HMRC confirms you cannot claim for years you are temporarily non-resident, and on return you can claim only for whatever years of the original four remain.
A split year of arrival counts as a full year of the window, so arriving in February still uses up a whole FIG year.
Each year you do claim costs that year's £12,570 personal allowance and £3,000 CGT annual exempt amount, and unused years cannot be carried forward.

Before arrival: the clock has not started

The four-year window is measured from your first tax year of UK residence, judged under the Statutory Residence Test, following at least 10 consecutive non-resident years. Until that first resident year happens, there is no clock to burn: someone who stays non-resident for 2026/27 and becomes resident in 2027/28 gets a window of 2027/28 to 2030/31, all four years intact and all four claimable. The only people whose windows shed years before they could use them are pre-2025/26 arrivers, because the regime only took effect on 6 April 2025 and no earlier year can ever be claimed. The dated table in our FIG deadlines guide maps every arrival year to its window and final claim date.

After arrival: the clock never pauses

Once your first resident year has happened, the window is fixed and runs whether you claim or not. GOV.UK is explicit that if you temporarily leave the UK mid-window you cannot claim for the non-resident years, and on return you can claim only for the qualifying years remaining; the four are not extended and a skipped year is simply lost. The same use-it-or-lose-it logic applies to years you spend resident but choose not to claim: there is no carry forward and no carry back. And a part year counts in full, since a year of arrival under split-year treatment is treated as a complete year of residence for the window.

What this means for timing your move

If you are weighing up a move this April against next April, the FIG arithmetic favours whichever start date best lines up the window with your income. Delaying residence keeps all four years in hand; arriving late in a tax year spends a full FIG year on a few weeks of residence; and relief follows when income arises, so foreign dividends, disposals or distributions landing after your window closes get nothing. Remember too that each claim is made year by year on the SA109 and surrenders that year's £12,570 personal allowance and £3,000 CGT exempt amount, so small claims can cost more than they save; our guide to claiming FIG on your tax return covers the mechanics. We model arrival timing and the year-by-year claim decision on a fixed fee agreed upfront, and a free 30-minute clarity call is the quickest way to see whether the modelling is worth it in your case.

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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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