Moving to the UK from Australia: The 2026 Tax Guide

Yes, once you become UK tax resident, but with a major and generous exception for new arrivals. UK tax residence is what switches on worldwide taxation. Until you are resident, the UK generally taxes only your UK-source income (for example, rent from a UK property or UK employment income). After you become resident, the default is that the UK taxes your income and gains from anywhere in the world, including Australian salary, dividends, interest, rental income and capital gains.

The exception is the 4-year FIG regime, which replaced the old non-domicile remittance basis from 6 April 2025. If you were non-UK resident for the 10 tax years before you arrive, you can claim 100% relief on your foreign income and gains for your first 4 years of UK residence. For most people arriving fresh from Australia after a decade away, that means your Australian income and gains can be sheltered from UK tax during the window, provided you claim correctly.

So the practical answer for a typical new arrival is: UK income is taxable from day one of residence, but your Australian income and gains can be protected for up to 4 years through a FIG claim. What you do before and during that window matters enormously, which is why planning ahead is the theme of this guide.

Your residence status is decided by the Statutory Residence Test, set out in HMRC's guidance note RDR3. The SRT runs in a fixed order and stops as soon as one part gives an answer:

• Automatic overseas tests: if you meet one of these (for example, you spend fewer than 16 days in the UK, or fewer than 46 days if you were not resident in the prior 3 tax years, or you work full-time overseas within limits), you are non-UK resident for that year, regardless of anything else.
• Automatic UK tests: if you spend 183 or more days in the UK in the tax year, or your only or main home is in the UK, or you work full-time in the UK, you are UK resident. Spending 183 or more days makes you resident with no further analysis needed.
• Sufficient ties test: if neither of the above decides it, you count your UK ties (family, accommodation, work and a 90-day tie, plus a country tie for those resident in a prior year) against your UK days. The more ties you have, the fewer days you can spend here before becoming resident.

As a new arriver (someone not UK resident in any of the previous 3 tax years), the ties thresholds are relatively forgiving. For example, with 46 to 90 days in the UK you need all 4 ties to be resident; with 91 to 120 days you need 3; and with 121 to 182 days you need 2. Note that the country tie does not apply to a genuine first-time arriver, as it only counts for people who were UK resident in one or more of the prior 3 tax years. Note too that the UK tax year runs 6 April to 5 April, not the Australian 1 July to 30 June, so map your travel dates onto the UK year carefully.

Because you can be resident in both countries under domestic rules, the UK-Australia double tax treaty contains tie-breaker tests (permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, nationality) that assign you to one country for treaty purposes. Getting your arrival dates and day counts right from the outset is essential; our SRT calculator can help you sense-check the position.

The FIG regime is the headline relief for anyone arriving from Australia after a long spell abroad. If you are a qualifying new resident, meaning you are within your first 4 tax years of UK residence following at least 10 consecutive tax years of non-UK residence, you can claim 100% relief on your eligible foreign income and gains during that window.

What is covered is broad: profits from a trade carried on wholly outside the UK, foreign property income (for example, rent from an Australian investment property), foreign dividends and interest, and capital gains on foreign assets. Foreign employment earnings for work done overseas are generally not eligible under the FIG regime, though separate Overseas Workday Relief may help, so Australian-source salary needs its own analysis. One important difference from the old remittance basis is that you are not taxed on bringing FIG-relieved money into the UK, so you can fund your UK life with your Australian savings without a further remittance charge.

There are trade-offs to weigh:

• You must claim on your UK Self Assessment tax return, for each year and for each source you want relieved. It is not automatic.
• In any year you claim FIG relief, you lose your UK personal allowance (£12,570 for 2026/27) and your CGT annual exempt amount (£3,000). If your UK-taxable income is modest, a FIG claim can occasionally cost more than it saves, so run the numbers each year.
• The relief runs for a maximum of 4 consecutive UK-resident years and cannot be extended. From year 5, your worldwide income and gains fall fully into UK tax.
• If your 4-year clock started before 6 April 2025 (you arrived from 2022/23 onward), you can still use the regime from 2025/26 for the remaining years of your window.

Use our FIG eligibility checker to confirm whether your 10-year non-residence history qualifies, and read our dedicated FIG regime guide for the mechanics. The regime is time-limited, so year 4 planning (before the shield drops) is critical.

This is the area to approach most cautiously, and to confirm with an adviser before acting. The core point is that Australian superannuation is generally not a UK-registered or UK-recognised pension scheme. That has several consequences that surprise people used to the Australian system.

• The 25% UK tax-free pension lump sum does not automatically apply to your Australian super. Do not assume the tax-free treatment you would get in Australia carries across to the UK.
• Once you are UK resident, HMRC generally views payments from a foreign pension as taxable foreign income. Lump sums and pension drawdowns from Australian super can be UK-taxable, with the precise treatment being fact-specific and dependent on the type of payment. Under Article 17 of the UK-Australia treaty, regular periodic pension payments are generally taxable only in your country of residence, but lump sums can be treated differently and are less clear-cut.
• The treatment of growth (the earnings that build up inside the fund) is complex and unsettled in practice. Where the fund's investment growth is drawn out, HMRC may seek to tax an income element. There is genuine technical uncertainty here, so this is a to confirm point rather than a fixed rule.

The FIG regime can help during your first 4 UK-resident years, because most foreign pension income falls within eligible foreign income, meaning a valid FIG claim can relieve super drawdowns taken in that window. That makes the timing of any super access a central planning question: drawing inside the FIG window, where a claim applies, can be very different from drawing in year 5 or later.

Transfers are a separate minefield. Very few Australian funds are on HMRC's list of Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes, so transferring UK pension money to Australian super, or vice versa, can trigger UK charges. The UK-Australia treaty and the Australian applicable fund earnings rules interact here too. Given the amounts usually involved and the uncertainty, take joint UK and Australian advice before you draw, transfer or restructure any superannuation.

If you keep Australian assets after your move, two questions matter: how future gains are taxed, and what happens to ongoing income.

On capital gains, there is a common misconception. As a genuine new arriver, you do not get automatic CGT rebasing of your Australian assets to their market value on arrival. That rebasing relief exists only for former remittance-basis users, and rebases to 5 April 2017, which will not apply to someone arriving fresh from Australia. Instead, your original acquisition cost normally remains your UK base cost. The practical protection during your early years is the FIG regime: gains on Australian assets realised inside your 4-year window can be relieved by a FIG claim. Sell after the window closes, and the whole gain (measured from original cost) can fall into UK CGT at 18% or 24% for 2026/27, subject to the £3,000 annual exempt amount.

This creates a clear planning point: consider whether to realise pregnant gains on Australian shares or property either before you become UK resident, or within the FIG window, rather than letting them accrue silently until they crystallise in a fully taxable year. Australia may still tax the disposal, and the treaty and Australian CGT rules (including any main-residence or temporary-resident treatment) need their own review.

On income, rent from an Australian investment property and Australian dividends and interest are foreign income that becomes UK-taxable once you are resident, unless relieved by a FIG claim in your early years. After the window, this income is fully UK-taxable, with a foreign tax credit under the treaty for Australian tax already paid so the same income is not taxed twice. Note that UK land and property are always within UK CGT (via the non-resident CGT rules), so a UK property is taxed here regardless of your residence.

The most valuable tax planning happens before you set foot in the UK as a resident, because once residence starts your options narrow. Consider the following well ahead of your move:

• Fix your arrival date deliberately. Because the UK tax year runs to 5 April and residence can hinge on day counts and ties, the exact date you arrive and start counting can move you into or out of residence for a year. Split-year treatment may apply so that only part of your first year is taxed on the resident basis.
• Consider crystallising Australian gains before residence. Selling and repurchasing (or otherwise realising) assets that carry large gains while you are still non-UK resident can reset your UK base cost and take the gain outside UK CGT entirely, subject to Australian tax and the treaty.
• Plan superannuation decisions in advance. Decide whether any lump sum or drawdown is better taken before UK residence, inside the FIG window, or left untouched, and get the UK and Australian positions modelled together before you commit.
• Bank and label your funds. Keep clean records of savings and capital accumulated before arrival. Even under FIG (which is more flexible than the old remittance basis), clear records make later UK reporting far easier.
• Map your income sources and time them. Bonuses, dividends and distributions can sometimes be accelerated into a pre-residence period or into a FIG year to reduce UK tax.
• Line up UK registrations. You will likely need to register for Self Assessment, and you will need a National Insurance number for UK work; plan for both.

Because the FIG regime, the SRT and the treaty all interact, and because the superannuation position is genuinely uncertain, treat this guide as a map rather than a substitute for advice. A short planning conversation before you move usually pays for itself many times over.