What is the Statutory Residence Test?
The Statutory Residence Test (SRT) is the statutory framework, in force since 6 April 2013, that determines whether an individual is UK tax resident for a particular tax year. Before the SRT, UK tax residency rested on case law and HMRC practice and was often uncertain. The SRT replaced that with a defined, rules-based UK tax residency test so that, in most cases, you can reach a definite yes-or-no answer by working through the rules.
Residency is assessed separately for each tax year (6 April to 5 April). You can be resident one year and non-resident the next, depending on your days and ties in that year. The SRT looks only at the year in question, although some parts of the test also consider your residency in the three preceding tax years.
The question the SRT answers, in short, is 'am I UK tax resident?' for the year. It does not, by itself, decide domicile, whether you qualify for any reliefs, or how a double tax treaty might override the outcome. Those are separate questions that can change the practical tax result.
How the SRT works: the three parts, in order
The SRT is applied as three tests in a strict order of priority, and you stop as soon as one gives a conclusive answer. You always start with the automatic overseas tests, move to the automatic UK tests only if none of those is met, and reach the sufficient ties test only if both earlier parts are inconclusive.
- Step 1: the automatic overseas tests. If you meet any one of these, you are non-UK resident for the year and you stop. Nothing else matters.
- Step 2: the automatic UK tests. If you do not meet an overseas test but meet any one of these, you are UK resident for the year and you stop.
- Step 3: the sufficient ties test. If neither set of automatic tests is met, you weigh your UK ties against the number of days you spent in the UK to reach the answer.
This order matters: the overseas tests can make you non-resident even if you would otherwise have several UK ties, which is why they are always checked first. The day counts and definitions used at each step are explained in the sections below.
The automatic overseas tests (when you are non-resident)
You are automatically non-UK resident for the tax year if you meet any one of the automatic overseas tests, and these are always considered first. There are three main tests that apply to most people (two further tests apply only where someone has died during the year).
- First automatic overseas test: you were UK resident in one or more of the three tax years before the current year, and you spend fewer than 16 days in the UK during the current tax year.
- Second automatic overseas test: you were not UK resident in any of the three tax years before the current year, and you spend fewer than 46 days in the UK during the current tax year.
- Third automatic overseas test (full-time work overseas): you work full-time overseas across the tax year with no significant break, you spend fewer than 91 days in the UK in the year, and the number of days on which you do more than three hours of work in the UK is fewer than 31.
The full-time work overseas test is widely used by people who relocate abroad for employment, but it is technical: the 'sufficient hours' calculation, what counts as a significant break, and travel time all need care. Getting the day count or workday count slightly wrong can flip the result, so it is one to check carefully.
The automatic UK tests (when you are UK resident)
You are automatically UK resident for the tax year if you do not meet any automatic overseas test but you meet any one of the automatic UK tests. There are three main tests (a fourth applies only in the year of death).
- First automatic UK test: you spend 183 days or more in the UK in the tax year. This is the best-known rule and is conclusive on its own.
- Second automatic UK test (the UK home test): you have a home in the UK for a period of at least 91 consecutive days, at least 30 of which fall in the tax year, during which you are present in that home on at least 30 days, and either you have no overseas home or you are present in any overseas home on fewer than 30 days in the year.
- Third automatic UK test (full-time work in the UK): you work full-time in the UK over a 365-day period (with more than 75% of your working days, counting days of more than three hours of work, being UK workdays of more than three hours), and at least one day of that period falls in the tax year.
Note that the well-known '183-day rule' is only one of several ways to become UK resident. Many people assume that staying under 183 days keeps them non-resident, but the home test, the work test and the sufficient ties test can all make you resident on far fewer days.
The sufficient ties test (when neither is conclusive)
The sufficient ties test applies only when none of the automatic overseas or automatic UK tests is met, and it works by combining how many UK ties you have with how many days you spend in the UK. The principle is simple: the more ties you have to the UK, the fewer days you can spend here before you become UK resident.
There are five possible ties. Four of them can apply to anyone; the fifth (the country tie) is only counted for people who have been UK resident in at least one of the three preceding tax years. The number of ties you have is then read against a day-count table, and which table you use depends on whether you are an 'arriver' or a 'leaver'.
The five UK ties explained
- Family tie: you have a UK-resident spouse or civil partner (unless you are separated), a partner you live with as if you were married or civil partners, or a minor child who is UK resident and whom you see in the UK on 61 days or more in the tax year.
- Accommodation tie: you have a place to live in the UK that is available to you for a continuous period of at least 91 days in the tax year and you spend at least one night there; if the place is the home of a close relative, it only counts if you spend 16 nights or more there in the year.
- Work tie: you do more than three hours of work in the UK on at least 40 days in the tax year, whether those days are continuous or intermittent.
- 90-day tie: you spent more than 90 days in the UK in either or both of the two preceding tax years.
- Country tie (leavers only): the UK is the country in which you were present at midnight for the greatest number of days in the tax year.
Each tie has its own detailed conditions, and borderline situations (for example, an adult child, a holiday home, or split working time) often turn on the precise definitions. It is worth confirming each tie rather than assuming.
How many days each tie allows (arrivers vs leavers)
How many days you can spend in the UK before the ties make you resident depends on whether you are a 'leaver' or an 'arriver'. A leaver is someone who was UK resident in one or more of the three tax years before the year in question; an arriver was not UK resident in any of those three years. Leavers are judged more strictly because they need fewer ties to become resident at the same day count.
Table A applies to leavers. With 16 to 45 days in the UK you are resident if you have all 4 ties; with 46 to 90 days, 3 or more ties; with 91 to 120 days, 2 or more ties; and with more than 120 days, 1 or more ties.
Table B applies to arrivers. With 46 to 90 days in the UK you are resident only if you have all 4 ties; with 91 to 120 days, 3 or more ties; and with more than 120 days, 2 or more ties. (Remember the country tie does not apply to arrivers, so they can have a maximum of 4 ties.)
In every case, 183 days or more makes you automatically resident under the first automatic UK test, so the ties tables only ever apply below that level.
How to count your days in the UK (the midnight rule)
For the SRT, a day counts as a day spent in the UK if you are in the UK at the end of that day, meaning at midnight. So a day on which you arrive and stay overnight counts, while a day on which you leave the UK before midnight generally does not count, even if you were here for most of the day.
There are two important refinements. Days you spend in the UK only because of certain transit between two places outside the UK can be ignored if you do not engage in activities unrelated to your travel. And the deeming rule (below) can make some non-midnight days count for frequent visitors. Because the count drives the whole test, keeping an accurate travel diary, with arrival and departure dates, is the single most useful thing you can do.
The deeming rule and exceptional circumstances
The deeming rule can make days count as UK days even when you were not in the UK at midnight, but it only applies if you meet three conditions together. First, you were UK resident in one or more of the three preceding tax years; second, you have at least three UK ties for the year; and third, you have more than 30 'qualifying days' (days when you were present in the UK during the day but left before midnight).
Where all three conditions are met, qualifying days beyond the first 30 are treated as days spent in the UK. For example, suppose someone has 44 midnight days plus 50 qualifying days. The first 30 qualifying days are ignored, but the remaining 20 are added, giving 64 UK days for SRT purposes. The rule is designed to stop frequent day-trippers from artificially keeping their count low.
Separately, days you are forced to spend in the UK because of exceptional circumstances beyond your control (for example, a sudden serious illness or a national emergency) can be disregarded, up to a maximum of 60 days in a tax year. The bar for 'exceptional' is high, and the relief does not extend to days you choose to stay, so this should not be relied on for routine planning.
Split-year treatment and the SRT
Split-year treatment can divide a single tax year into a UK part and an overseas part, but it only applies in a year for which you are UK resident under the SRT. In other words, you first work through the SRT for the whole year; if you come out as resident, you then check whether one of the split-year cases lets you be taxed as non-resident for the part of the year before you arrived or after you left.
There are eight split-year cases in total: some cover people leaving the UK (for example, starting full-time work overseas, or accompanying a partner who does so, or ceasing to have a UK home), and others cover people arriving (for example, starting to have a UK home, or starting full-time work in the UK). Each case has detailed conditions and a defined date from which the split takes effect.
Split-year treatment is a common source of confusion and of tax saved or lost, particularly around the exact split date and which income falls in which part of the year. Our separate guide on split-year treatment works through the cases in detail.
Why your residency status matters for your tax
Your residency status matters because it largely determines what the UK can tax. If you are UK resident, you are generally taxable in the UK on your worldwide income and gains for that year. If you are non-resident, the UK normally only taxes UK-source income, such as rent from UK property, and limited categories of UK gains.
Getting the status right also affects practical things such as whether UK rental profits must be reported, whether a gain on selling UK property is within scope, eligibility for personal allowances, and how a double tax treaty between the UK and another country allocates taxing rights when two countries both claim you. Residency under the SRT is the starting point for almost every cross-border tax question.
Because the consequences are significant and the rules are detailed, this is an area where a clear, upfront assessment pays for itself. At Horizon UK Tax Solutions we specialise in cross-border cases and agree a fixed fee in advance, so you know the cost before any work starts.
Worked example (clearly hypothetical)
Here is a clearly hypothetical example to show how the three parts fit together. Suppose someone moved abroad two years ago, was UK resident before that, and in the 2025/26 tax year spends 70 days in the UK. We work through the SRT in order.
- Step 1, automatic overseas tests: they were resident in one of the last three years, so the first overseas test needs fewer than 16 days; they spent 70, so it is not met. They do not work full-time overseas, so the third test does not apply. No overseas test is met.
- Step 2, automatic UK tests: they spent fewer than 183 days, have no qualifying UK home, and do not work full-time in the UK. No UK test is met.
- Step 3, sufficient ties test: because they were resident recently, they are a 'leaver' and use Table A. Suppose they have an accommodation tie and a 90-day tie, so 2 ties. For a leaver spending 46 to 90 days, residency needs 3 or more ties. With only 2 ties, they are non-resident for 2025/26.
Now suppose instead they also did 40 or more days of UK work, adding a work tie to reach 3 ties. At 70 days with 3 ties, a leaver becomes UK resident. The example shows how a single extra tie, or a few extra days, can change the outcome, which is exactly why careful day and tie tracking matters.