Moving to the Philippines from the UK: the 2026/27 tax guide

The Philippine tax code splits individuals into categories, and only one of them, the resident Filipino citizen, is taxed on worldwide income. Everyone else, including resident aliens and non-resident citizens, is taxed only on income from sources within the Philippines. A UK national who moves to Manila or Cebu becomes a resident alien, so UK pensions, UK and international dividends, interest and rental income from outside the Philippines sit outside the Philippine income tax net entirely, with no remittance condition attached.

But the deciding factor for your UK bill is not your visa or your condo in Bonifacio Global City. It is the UK Statutory Residence Test (RDR3, GOV.UK), a strict day-counting and ties-based mechanism that decides, year by year, whether the UK can still tax your worldwide income. Three things have to line up: you break UK residence under the SRT, you claim split-year treatment where you leave mid-year, and you deal properly with the income and gains that stay UK-taxable regardless of where you live. Get those right and the territorial outcome is real; miss one and the UK keeps taxing income you assumed was outside every net.

The SRT is applied in order: first the automatic overseas tests (which make you non-resident), then the automatic UK tests (which make you resident), then the sufficient ties test if neither is conclusive. For someone moving to the Philippines, the automatic overseas tests are the target.

• First automatic overseas test: you were UK resident in one or more of the previous three tax years and spend fewer than 16 days in the UK in the current year.
• Second automatic overseas test: you were not UK resident in any of the previous three tax years and spend fewer than 46 UK days.
• Third automatic overseas test (the usual route for working movers): you work full-time abroad across the tax year, broadly an average of at least 35 hours a week with no significant breaks, spend fewer than 91 days in the UK and work here on no more than 30 of those days.

If you cannot meet an automatic overseas test, the sufficient ties test combines your UK day count with the ties you keep (family, accommodation, work, a 90-day prior-presence tie and, for recent leavers, a country tie). The more ties you retain, the fewer UK days you are allowed. Retirees who cannot use the full-time work route need to manage ties and days with particular care. Model your position with our SRT calculator at /tools/srt-calculator before you book flights, because a few days either side of a threshold can flip the answer.

Most people do not emigrate neatly on 6 April. Where the conditions are met, split-year treatment divides the tax year into a UK part (taxed on worldwide income) and an overseas part (taxed only on UK-source income), so income arising in the Philippines after the split date is outside UK income tax for that year. The common gateways for leavers are starting full-time work overseas and ceasing to have a UK home, each with its own conditions on timing and UK day limits.

The admin is the same as for any departure. File a P85 (GOV.UK) if you are employed or have a pension, and a final Self Assessment return for your year of departure. Split-year treatment is claimed on the SA109 residence pages, not by the P85, and the SA109 cannot be filed through HMRC's own free online service, so you will generally need commercial software or an agent. Keep records of travel dates, work patterns and your Philippine accommodation: residence questions are evidenced after the fact.

Becoming non-resident does not switch off UK tax on UK-source income, and the Philippine system for foreigners is the mirror image: it ignores exactly the income the UK keeps. The table below shows how the two systems treat the main items.

Three further UK rules deserve their own line. First, the temporary non-residence trap: if you were UK resident in at least four of the seven tax years before leaving and return within five years, gains and certain income realised while abroad can be taxed in your year of return. Second, the residence-based IHT rules that took effect on 6 April 2025: if you were UK resident for at least 10 of the previous 20 tax years you are a long-term resident, and your worldwide estate stays within UK inheritance tax for a tail of up to 10 years after you leave, tapering with how long you were here. Third, voluntary National Insurance: most leavers should apply on form CF83 to keep paying Class 2 or Class 3 contributions, because a full UK State Pension is cheap to protect and expensive to rebuild.

Under the Philippine tax code, resident citizens are taxed on worldwide income, but non-resident citizens and aliens, whether or not resident in the Philippines, are taxed only on income from Philippine sources. A UK national living there is a resident alien if the stay is open-ended rather than a brief visit; an alien in the country for a definite assignment, or for more than 180 days in a calendar year, is treated as a non-resident alien engaged in trade or business and is taxed at the same graduated rates on Philippine-source income. Either way, foreign-source income stays outside the Philippine net.

Philippine-source income is taxed at graduated rates that have applied since 1 January 2023: 0% on the first PHP 250,000 of taxable income, 15% from PHP 250,000 to 400,000, 20% to PHP 800,000, 25% to PHP 2 million, 30% to PHP 8 million and 35% above that. Short-stay non-resident aliens not engaged in a Philippine trade or business instead face a flat 25% on Philippine-source income. A consultant doing client work while physically sitting in the Philippines should take local advice on whether that work is Philippine-source, because services performed in-country are the classic case where territorial systems still tax you.

The honest boundary: Horizon advises on the UK side of the move and coordinates with a local adviser in the Philippines for local filings and immigration. The Philippine figures above are verified against current professional summaries, but your own Philippine filings belong with local counsel.

The Special Resident Retiree's Visa (SRRV), run by the Philippine Retirement Authority, is the route most UK retirees use. It gives indefinite residence with multiple-entry privileges in exchange for a refundable US dollar time deposit in a PRA-accredited Philippine bank. The programme was restructured with effect from 1 September 2025: revised guidelines tightened documentary requirements, lowered the minimum age and adjusted the deposits, and two options are now offered, the SRRV Classic and the reduced-deposit SRRV Courtesy for limited eligibility categories.

Under the restructured SRRV Classic, an applicant aged 50 or over needs a deposit of USD 15,000 with a verifiable pension or USD 30,000 without one; an applicant aged 40 to 49 needs USD 25,000 with a pension or USD 50,000 without. The deposit is your money, held in your name, and is returned if you cancel the visa. The figures have changed more than once this decade, so confirm the current requirements with the PRA before committing funds. And remember the visa decides your right to live in the Philippines, not your UK tax position: that is always settled by the SRT.

The UK and the Philippines have a full double taxation convention, and it is one of the older ones on the UK's books: signed in 1976, it entered into force on 22 January 1978 and has had effect in the UK since 1 April 1977 for income tax, capital gains tax and corporation tax (GOV.UK). Because the Philippines does not tax the foreign-source income of resident aliens, the treaty matters mainly for the UK-source income you keep, for its residence tie-breaker if both countries ever claim you, and for double tax relief on anything taxed in both.

Its age shows in places: the treaty predates modern pension and remote-work patterns, so how it applies to a specific pension, lump sum or employment package needs checking against the actual articles rather than assumed from newer treaties. That is a point worth professional advice before you rely on a particular article, especially for pension drawdown planned around the move.

The Philippines suits people whose income is genuinely foreign-source once they are there: retirees drawing UK and international pensions (the SRRV was built for exactly this), investors living on non-Philippine portfolio income, and location-independent business owners whose customers and operations sit outside the Philippines. English is an official language, the cost of living is low by UK standards, and the territorial treatment of foreign residents is written into the tax code rather than resting on a special regime that could lapse.

It suits people less well if their work will be physically performed in the Philippines for local customers (Philippine-source, taxed at up to 35%), if they expect to return to the UK within five years, or if their real aim is UK IHT protection on a short timeline. And like Dubai or Panama, it does nothing for UK property income and gains. Model the whole move, both sides, with our relocation tool at /tools/relocation before you commit to a date.