UK Tax When Moving to New Zealand: A Departure Guide (2026/27)

Yes, you can still pay UK tax after moving to New Zealand, but only on certain things. Once you become non-resident under the Statutory Residence Test, the UK generally stops taxing your worldwide income and gains and instead taxes only UK-source items, such as UK rental income, gains on UK property, most UK pensions and pay for UK workdays. Your residence status, not your physical move, is what changes your UK tax exposure.

Becoming UK non-resident is a tax concept with strict tests behind it. You do not become non-resident simply by booking a flight, shipping your belongings or signing a New Zealand tenancy. You become non-resident when the Statutory Residence Test says so, and the exact date matters because it drives split-year treatment and the start of the temporary non-residence clock.

Whether you remain UK tax resident is decided by the Statutory Residence Test (SRT), a three-limb test you work through in order. You look first at the automatic overseas tests, then the automatic UK tests, then, if neither is conclusive, the sufficient ties test. The result fixes your residence status for the whole tax year, before any split-year adjustment.

• Automatic overseas tests: you are non-resident if, for example, you spend fewer than 16 days in the UK in the year (or fewer than 46 if you were not resident in the previous three years), or you work full-time overseas with limited UK days.
• Automatic UK tests: you are resident if, for example, you spend 183 days or more in the UK, or your only home is in the UK, or you work full-time in the UK.
• Sufficient ties test: if neither automatic test settles it, your residence depends on how many UK ties you keep (family, accommodation, work, 90-day and country ties) measured against the days you spend in the UK.

For someone moving to New Zealand, the day count in your departure year and your ongoing UK ties (a property you keep, family who stay, return visits) are usually what decide the question. Keep a careful record of your UK days from the outset. Our Statutory Residence Test guide works through each limb, and the SRT calculator helps you estimate your status.

Split-year treatment can divide the tax year in which you emigrate into a UK part and an overseas part, so you are taxed as a UK resident only up to the date you leave and as a non-resident afterwards. Without it, the SRT would treat you as resident for the entire year, potentially exposing your New Zealand income to UK tax for months after you arrived.

Split-year treatment is not optional and is not claimed at will: you qualify only if your circumstances fit one of the statutory cases. For people leaving the UK, the common routes are starting full-time work overseas, accompanying a partner who does, or ceasing to have a UK home. Moving to New Zealand to take up a job, for instance, may fit the overseas-work case if you meet the working hours and UK-day limits.

You report split-year treatment through the residence pages of your Self Assessment return (SA109), specifying the case and the split date. Getting the date right matters because it determines exactly how much of the year is taxed on a worldwide basis. See our split-year treatment guide and the split-year tool for the case-by-case detail.

The temporary non-residence rule can pull income and gains you realised while abroad back into UK tax if you return too soon. It bites where you were UK resident in at least four of the seven tax years before you left and your period of non-residence is five years or less. In that situation, certain income and gains arising during your absence become taxable in the UK in the year you return.

This is the trap that catches people who move to New Zealand, sell assets or take pension lump sums while away, then come back within five years. The rule mainly targets gains on assets you owned before leaving, certain distributions and pension withdrawals, and some other income that would otherwise escape UK tax. Genuinely leaving for more than five complete years, or not having been resident in four of the prior seven years, takes you outside the rule.

If you might return to the UK within five years, time disposals and pension actions carefully. A gain crystallised a year too early can become fully UK-taxable on your return; the same gain realised after the five-year point usually is not. Our leaving-the-UK guide explains the mechanics in more depth.

Even as a New Zealand resident, several UK items remain within the UK tax net. The table below summarises the main ones. Treat it as the starting point for your departure planning, then check each item against your own circumstances and the UK-New Zealand treaty.

Note that even where an item is UK-taxable, the treaty may give New Zealand the primary or sole right to tax it, with double tax relief preventing the same income being taxed twice. Pensions are the clearest example and are dealt with below.

If you keep a UK property and let it out, the rental profit stays taxable in the UK regardless of where you live. The income falls under the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme (NRLS), which by default requires your letting agent or tenant to deduct basic-rate tax from the rent before paying it to you.

To receive rent gross (without tax deducted at source) and settle the tax yourself through Self Assessment, register with HMRC using form NRL1. You still pay UK tax on the net profit, but you keep your cash flow and your personal allowance, where available, and claim allowable expenses such as repairs and agent fees. Note that for individual residential landlords mortgage and other finance interest is not deducted from rental profit; instead it gives a basic-rate (20%) reduction in your tax bill.

You will usually also declare this UK rental income in New Zealand once resident there, with credit given for the UK tax paid so you are not taxed twice. Our Non-Resident Landlord Scheme guide covers the UK calculations; confirm the New Zealand treatment with a local adviser.

Gains on UK residential property remain taxable in the UK even after you become non-resident, under the non-resident capital gains tax (NRCGT) rules. Crucially, you must report the disposal and pay any tax due within 60 days of completion, using HMRC's standalone property reporting service, separately from your annual Self Assessment return.

Residential property gains for individuals are charged at 18 percent or 24 percent depending on which UK income tax band the gain falls into. Non-residents can often rebase to the property's value as at April 2015 (or use alternative computation methods), so only the gain since then is typically charged, but the rules are technical and worth checking before you sell.

Missing the 60-day deadline triggers penalties and interest, so plan any sale around it. See our guide to CGT on UK property for non-residents for the detail and the calculation.

How your UK pension is taxed depends on the type of pension and the UK-New Zealand double tax treaty. As a general rule under the treaty, UK private and occupational pensions are taxable only in New Zealand once you are resident there, while UK government service pensions (for former civil servants, the armed forces and similar) usually remain taxable in the UK.

That means most people drawing a UK workplace or personal pension will pay tax in New Zealand rather than the UK, but you should not assume this applies automatically: the position turns on the precise pension type and on completing the right treaty paperwork so UK PAYE is not applied. The UK State Pension also has its own treatment to check.

New Zealand taxes overseas pensions and certain foreign superannuation transfers under its own rules, which can be complex and are outside the scope of UK advice. Confirm the New Zealand side with a local adviser. Our foreign pensions and QROPS guide covers the UK angle.

You can sometimes transfer a UK pension to a Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS), but you need to weigh the Overseas Transfer Charge before doing so. The charge is a 25 percent tax on transfers to a QROPS unless an exemption applies, designed to discourage transfers made purely to escape UK tax.

Whether a New Zealand scheme qualifies as a QROPS, and whether an exemption from the charge is available, depends on the scheme's status and your circumstances at the time of transfer. A transfer that looks attractive can carry a significant immediate tax cost, and once moved the funds are subject to New Zealand pension rules rather than UK ones.

For many people moving to New Zealand, leaving a UK pension where it is and drawing it under the treaty is simpler and cheaper than transferring. Take combined UK and New Zealand advice before any transfer; this guide does not recommend one course over another.

On the New Zealand side, new migrants may benefit from a temporary tax exemption, but the detail is for a New Zealand adviser to confirm. New Zealand's Inland Revenue (IRD) offers a transitional residence exemption to people who become New Zealand tax resident having not been resident there in the previous ten years. The table below is indicative only and must be verified locally before you rely on it.

The key practical point is that the New Zealand exemption shelters passive foreign income but does not shelter foreign employment or self-employment earnings. So salary you continue to earn for overseas work, or income from your own services, is likely to be taxable in New Zealand even during the exemption window. Treat figures and dates here as indicative; New Zealand rules and proposals can change.

Here is a simplified, illustrative example of how the temporary non-residence rule and split-year treatment interact. Figures are rounded and for illustration only; your own numbers and reliefs will differ.

Suppose you were UK resident for the seven years before leaving and you move to New Zealand on 1 October 2026. You qualify for split-year treatment, so for 2026/27 you are taxed as a UK resident only to 30 September 2026 and as a non-resident from 1 October 2026. So far, so clean.

Now suppose that in March 2028, while non-resident, you sell a portfolio of UK-listed shares you owned before leaving and realise a gain of 100,000 pounds. As a non-resident, that gain is normally outside UK capital gains tax. But if you return to live in the UK in, say, 2030, your absence is under five years and you were resident in four of the seven years before leaving, so the temporary non-residence rule applies. The 100,000 pound gain is treated as arising in the UK tax year of your return and is charged to UK CGT then.

At an illustrative 24 percent rate (ignoring the annual exempt amount and any New Zealand tax credit), that is roughly 24,000 pounds of UK CGT that you would have avoided entirely had you stayed non-resident for more than five complete years, or had the gain been realised after that point. The lesson: the timing of disposals and the length of your absence can change the UK tax outcome dramatically.

Before you leave, a short list of UK admin protects your position and avoids penalties. Work through these well ahead of your move date.

• Confirm your residence status and split date under the SRT, and keep a day-by-day record of UK days from the outset.
• Tell HMRC you are leaving by submitting form P85 (or through Self Assessment if you already file).
• Plan to file a Self Assessment return for your departure year, including the residence pages (SA109) to claim split-year treatment.
• If you keep a UK rental property, register under the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme using form NRL1 so rent is paid gross.
• Diarise the 60-day reporting and payment deadline for any future sale of UK residential property.
• Review the timing of any planned asset sales or pension withdrawals against the 5-year temporary non-residence rule.
• Check the treaty position and paperwork for any UK pensions before you start drawing them.
• Take New Zealand advice on the transitional resident exemption and on declaring your UK income there, with double tax relief in mind.

Our leaving-the-UK forms and refund guide walks through P85, the departure-year return and reclaiming any overpaid PAYE. The relocation tool helps you sequence the move; the tax-atlas tool gives a country-level overview.