Moving to Australia From the UK: The 2026/27 Tax Guide

Almost every UK-to-Australia tax issue flows from two questions: when do you stop being UK tax resident, and when do you start being Australian tax resident. Get these right and most of the rest follows. Get them wrong and you can end up taxed twice on the same income, or surprised by a charge you could have avoided.

The UK and Australia use completely different residence tests and different tax years. The UK tax year runs to 5 April; the Australian income year runs to 30 June. Because the two countries also test residence in different ways, it is entirely possible to be resident in both for an overlapping period. That is not a disaster, but it is exactly when the treaty tie-breaker and good record-keeping earn their keep.

• UK side: are you still UK resident under the Statutory Residence Test, and do you qualify for split-year treatment in the year you leave?
• Australia side: which of the Australian residency tests do you meet, and from what date?
• Overlap: if both say 'resident' at once, what does the UK-Australia treaty tie-breaker conclude, and can you prove it?

You become UK non-resident when the Statutory Residence Test says so, not when you board the plane. The SRT looks at how many days you spend in the UK, your connecting ties (such as family, accommodation, work and previous presence), and your working pattern. Booking a one-way ticket to Sydney does not, by itself, make you non-resident.

For a genuine permanent move, most people become non-resident either by working full-time overseas for a complete tax year or by reducing UK days and ties below the relevant thresholds. Because the day counts and tie tests interact, the safest approach is to model your specific facts before you leave rather than assume.

Our SRT calculator and the Statutory Residence Test guide below let you test your own day counts and ties. Treat the output as a planning aid, not a ruling: borderline cases need a proper review.

If you qualify, split-year treatment lets HMRC treat the year of departure as two parts: a UK-resident part up to your departure date and a non-resident part after it. The practical effect is that your overseas income and most overseas gains in the non-resident part fall outside UK tax, even though you were UK resident for the first part of the same tax year.

Split-year treatment is not automatic and not a free choice. You have to fall within one of the specific SRT cases (for example, starting full-time work overseas, or ceasing to have a UK home). You claim it on the residence pages of your Self Assessment return. If you do not qualify for a case, you remain taxed as UK resident for the whole tax year, with treaty relief as a backstop where double taxation arises.

• Split-year cuts UK tax on overseas income and gains from your departure date, if you meet a qualifying case.
• It is claimed on form SA109, filed with your Self Assessment return for the year you leave.
• It does not remove UK tax on UK-source income (for example, UK rental profits), which can remain taxable after you leave.

Tell HMRC you are leaving by filing form P85, or by reporting through Self Assessment if you already file a return. The P85 records your departure date and circumstances and helps HMRC process any refund of tax overpaid through PAYE in your final UK months. Filing a P85 is useful, but on its own it does not confirm your non-resident status, and it does not by itself apply split-year treatment: your residence position is still governed by the SRT, and split-year is claimed on the SA109.

If you are within Self Assessment (for example because you have UK rental income, are a company director, or have a more complex year), you usually report departure on your tax return rather than relying on the P85 alone. The residence pages, form SA109, are where you set out your residence position and claim split-year treatment for the year of departure.

Keep evidence of the move from day one: your departure date, flights, your Australian home, where you work, where your family is, and any Australian tax-residence certificate. If your residence is ever questioned, or if the treaty tie-breaker has to be applied, this is the file that protects you.

Leaving the UK does not switch off UK tax on UK-source income. If you keep a UK rental property, the profits generally remain within UK tax, and you should operate the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme so rent can be paid to you without tax deducted at source (you then report the income through Self Assessment). Our non-resident landlord guide covers this in depth.

If you keep UK residential property and later sell it, you stay inside Non-Resident Capital Gains Tax (NRCGT). As a non-resident you must report the disposal to HMRC within 60 days of completion, and pay any tax due in the same window, even if the eventual figure is nil. The non-resident annual exempt amount is £3,000 for both 2025/26 and 2026/27; confirm the current year's figure before you file. There is also a timing point to watch: under the temporary non-residence rules, if you are abroad for five years or fewer, certain gains realised while you are away can be brought back into charge in the tax year you resume UK residence, so the five-year clock is worth checking with advice if you might return.

Non-residents may still be entitled to a UK personal allowance, for example by virtue of being a UK or EEA national, which can shelter modest UK rental or pension income. This interacts with the treaty, so check it as part of the overall plan rather than in isolation.

Australia taxes its tax residents on worldwide income; non-residents are taxed only on Australian-source income. Whether you are an Australian resident is decided by the ATO's tests, applied in order. The 'resides' test comes first and looks at whether you actually reside in Australia by ordinary concepts. If that does not settle it, the domicile test, the 183-day test and the Commonwealth superannuation test follow.

Australian resident individual rates for the 2025/26 income year were a tax-free threshold up to A$18,200, then 16% to A$45,000, 30% to A$135,000, 37% to A$190,000, and 45% above that, plus a 2% Medicare levy on top for most residents. Foreign residents have no tax-free threshold and are taxed at a flat 30% up to A$135,000 (then 37% and 45%), but do not pay the Medicare levy. These figures are the 2025/26 income-year position and must be confirmed for the year you arrive.

A crucial wrinkle for new arrivals is the 'temporary resident' concession. If you arrive on a temporary visa (many common work visas qualify), you are generally taxed only on Australian-source income and certain Australian employment income, and most foreign investment income and gains are not taxed in Australia while the concession applies. The concession ends, permanently, on the day you become a permanent resident (and in some cases on other events), after which you are taxed on worldwide income. Whether you are a temporary or ordinary resident is an Australian question for an Australian agent, but it materially changes how your UK income is taxed once you have left the UK.

• Worldwide income for ordinary Australian residents; Australian-source only for non-residents and (broadly) for temporary residents.
• Australia's income year ends 30 June, not 5 April, so your first reporting periods in each country will not line up.
• Superannuation is compulsory employer-funded retirement saving; if you leave Australia having worked on a temporary visa, you may be able to claim a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment (DASP).
• Australia is not a Beckham-style or zero-tax regime: budget for a full residence-based system once any temporary-resident concession ends.

Because the UK and Australian tests can both point to 'resident' during your move, the UK-Australia double tax agreement contains a tie-breaker that assigns you to one country for treaty purposes. It is applied as a cascade: your permanent home; if you have one in both countries, your centre of vital interests (where your personal and economic ties are stronger); if that is unclear, where you habitually live; and, as a last resort, your nationality.

The tie-breaker is decided on facts, so the evidence file matters: where your home and family are, where you work, where your bank accounts and main assets sit, and so on. The cleaner your facts (one home, one centre of life, a clear departure date), the easier the position is to hold. The treaty then allocates taxing rights over each type of income and provides relief, usually by credit, where both countries would otherwise tax the same amount.

Hypothetical example: a single professional leaves the UK for Sydney on a long-term work visa, sells nothing, and rents out a London flat. They qualify for UK split-year treatment from departure, so their Australian salary is outside UK tax from that date. As an Australian temporary resident, that salary is taxed in Australia. The UK flat's rent stays within UK tax (reported via Self Assessment under the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme), with Australia giving relief if it also taxes that rent once the temporary-resident concession no longer shelters it. The numbers are illustrative and depend entirely on the individual's facts and visa status.

Pensions are where this corridor most often goes wrong. Two things need separating: how your UK pension income is taxed once you live in Australia, and whether you should physically transfer the pension into Australian superannuation.

On income, the UK-Australia treaty generally allocates most pensions to your country of residence. So once you are an Australian tax resident, your UK private and occupational pensions, and the UK State Pension, are broadly taxable in Australia rather than the UK, and HMRC can often pay them gross once the right treaty paperwork is in place. Confirm the exact position for your specific pension and visa status before relying on it.

On transfers, the picture is restrictive. To move a UK pension abroad without a UK tax charge it must go to a Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS/ROPS) on HMRC's list. Most Australian super funds came off that list in 2015, after HMRC introduced a rule that a scheme cannot qualify if it allows members to access their savings before age 55. That left only a small number of compliant routes today: the handful of funds still listed (for example one retail fund) or a self-managed super fund (SMSF) whose rules restrict access to members aged 55 or over. Separately, since 9 March 2017 a transfer that falls outside the rules can trigger the 25% Overseas Transfer Charge. A transfer to an Australian QROPS by someone who is Australian-resident and within the Overseas Transfer Allowance is generally not charged, but the conditions are precise and change over time.

• You generally cannot transfer to an Australian QROPS until you can access the UK pension; the UK normal minimum pension age rises from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028, which pushes the practical transfer age up too.
• Australia's annual and lifetime super contribution caps can block or penalise a large transfer landing in a single year, so timing and staging matter.
• Growth between leaving a UK scheme and the transfer can be taxed in Australia as 'applicable fund earnings', another reason transfers are often best done soon after becoming Australian-resident, with advice.
• For many people, leaving the UK pension where it is and drawing it under the treaty is simpler and cheaper than transferring. This is a decision to take with a UK adviser and an Australian-licensed adviser together, never on a forum tip.

The cheapest fixes happen before departure. Once you have left, options narrow and deadlines (the 60-day NRCGT window, the year-of-departure return, the five-year clocks) start to bite. A short pre-departure review usually pays for itself.

• Model your SRT position and confirm whether you qualify for split-year treatment, with evidence of your departure date.
• Plan your final UK Self Assessment return, including the SA109 residence pages, and file the P85 if appropriate.
• Map any UK property: rental reporting under the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme, and your NRCGT exposure if you might sell.
• Take pension advice before any transfer, covering the QROPS list, the 25% charge, Australian contribution caps and the access-age clock.
• Decide on UK bank accounts, ISAs (which lose their tax-free status for Australian tax once you are resident) and investments, and keep records that support a clean treaty residence position.