The statutory residence test decides whether you are UK resident for a tax year, which runs from 6 April to 5 April. It works in three steps. Fewer than 16 or 46 days in the UK makes you non-resident; 183 days makes you resident; everything between is settled by counting your UK ties against your UK days.
How does the statutory residence test work
HMRC's guidance note RDR3, updated 11 June 2026, sets out three steps in a fixed order. The law is Schedule 45 to the Finance Act 2013, in force for tax years from 6 April 2013.
Step one: 183 UK days or more makes you resident. Step two: meeting any automatic overseas test makes you non-resident. Step three: meeting an automatic UK test or the sufficient ties test makes you resident; meeting neither makes you non-resident. The result covers the whole tax year unless split year treatment applies.
What are the automatic overseas tests
Three tests make you non-resident outright. The first applies to leavers: resident in one or more of the previous 3 tax years and fewer than 16 days in the UK this year. The second applies to arrivers: resident in none of the previous 3 tax years and fewer than 46 days in the UK.
The third covers full-time work abroad: fewer than 91 UK days, fewer than 31 days with more than 3 hours' UK work, and no significant break, which RDR3 defines as 31 days or more without a day of over 3 hours' overseas work, leave included.
What are the automatic UK tests
Three tests make you resident outright. The first is 183 days or more in the UK. The second is the home test: a UK home held for 91 consecutive days, at least 30 of them in the tax year, where you were present on at least 30 days, while you had no overseas home or spent fewer than 30 days in it. The third is full-time UK work over a 365-day period, with more than 75 percent of your days of over 3 hours' work spent in the UK.
Which ties count under the sufficient ties test
Five ties exist, defined in paragraphs 32 to 38 of Schedule 45. The country tie counts only for someone resident in at least one of the previous 3 tax years.
- Family tie · a UK resident spouse, civil partner or partner, or a UK resident child under 18 whom you see in the UK on 61 days or more.
- Accommodation tie · a UK place to live, available for at least 91 continuous days, where you spend one night in the year; 16 nights at a close relative's home.
- Work tie · at least 40 days in the year with more than 3 hours' work in the UK.
- 90-day tie · more than 90 days in the UK in either or both of the previous 2 tax years.
- Country tie · the UK is where you were present at midnight on the most days in the year.
How many days can you spend in the UK
The limit depends on your ties and your last 3 tax years. RDR3 gives two tables.
- Leavers (resident in 1 or more of the previous 3 years) · 16 to 45 days, 4 ties · 46 to 90 days, 3 ties · 91 to 120 days, 2 ties · over 120 days, 1 tie.
- Arrivers (resident in none of the previous 3 years) · 46 to 90 days, all 4 ties · 91 to 120 days, 3 ties · over 120 days, 2 ties.
An illustration. A person moves from London to Dubai, keeps their London flat and spent 200 UK days the year before. That gives an accommodation tie, once they sleep one night there, and a 90-day tie: 2 ties. At 100 UK days they sit in the 91 to 120 band, where 2 ties suffice, so they stay resident. At 90 days they sit in the 46 to 90 band, where 3 are needed, so they are non-resident, provided they have no family or work tie and the UK is not their country tie.
Heed's reading: the 90-day tie follows a leaver for two tax years after departure, so the first two years abroad carry less day headroom than the tables suggest at first reading.
How are days counted
A day counts as a UK day if you are in the UK at midnight, under paragraph 22 of Schedule 45. Transit passengers leaving the next day are excluded, as are up to 60 days a year when exceptional circumstances, such as war or sudden serious illness, stopped you leaving.
The deeming rule in paragraph 23 cuts the other way. With at least 3 UK ties, residence in one of the previous 3 tax years and more than 30 days in the UK that end abroad before midnight, each such day after the 30th counts as a UK day.
What is split year treatment
Split year treatment divides a year of UK residence into a UK part and an overseas part. RDR3 lists eight cases: cases 1 to 3 for departures, such as starting full-time work overseas, and cases 4 to 8 for arrivals.
Under the temporary non-residence rules, someone with sole UK residence in 4 of the 7 tax years before leaving who returns within 5 years can be taxed on certain income and gains from the absence.
A resident's foreign income falls under the four-year foreign income and gains regime since non-dom status ended on 6 April 2025. See also the 183-day rule comparison and the United Kingdom guide.
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