The foreign income and gains regime, usually shortened to FIG, replaced the remittance basis on 6 April 2025. It is a four-tax-year relief for people who become UK tax resident after at least ten consecutive tax years of non-residence. During those four years, qualifying foreign income and gains are free of UK tax whether or not you bring the money into the UK. After the fourth year, you are taxed on worldwide income and gains like any other UK resident.
Who qualifies
You qualify for a tax year if you are UK resident under the statutory residence test and you were not UK resident in any of the ten tax years immediately before your first year of residence. HMRC calls this the ten-year test. Split years count as years of residence, so a part-year arrival still starts the four-year clock.
The regime is not limited to non-domiciled people. Domicile has no role in the new rules. A British citizen who has lived abroad for twelve years and moves home in 2026 qualifies on exactly the same terms as a foreign national arriving for the first time.
What the relief covers
Relief is available for most foreign income and most foreign chargeable gains. HMRC guidance lists the main categories: foreign employment income for duties performed outside the UK, foreign trading and property income, foreign dividends and interest, and gains on assets located outside the UK. Income from UK sources stays taxable in the normal way.
A separate overseas workday relief sits alongside FIG for employees. It covers earnings for non-UK duties and is capped at the lower of 30 percent of qualifying employment income or 300,000 pounds a year, again for four years.
How the claim works
You claim on your Self Assessment return for each tax year you want the relief. The claim must identify the foreign income and gains you are claiming for, so you still need to quantify them. HMRC's helpsheet HS266 for the 2025 to 2026 return sets out the boxes and the supporting figures.
Claiming has two costs. You lose the personal allowance, currently 12,570 pounds, and the annual exempt amount for capital gains for that year. For someone with material foreign income the trade is obvious. For someone whose foreign income is small, it can be cheaper not to claim in a given year, and the choice is made year by year.
Bringing money into the UK
Under the old remittance basis, bringing foreign income into the UK triggered UK tax. Under FIG it does not. You can fund your UK life directly from foreign income earned during the four years without a charge. That removes the need for separate clean capital accounts, although the old segregation still matters for income earned before 6 April 2025 if you previously used the remittance basis.
When the four years end
The relief stops after your fourth year of residence, counted from the first year you became resident. From year five you are taxed on the arising basis on worldwide income and gains. Anyone arriving in 2026 to 2027 should plan for the full arising basis from 6 April 2030.
Two timing points catch people out. First, a year of residence that you spend abroad on a split-year basis still counts as one of the four. Second, if you leave before the four years are used and come back, the unused years are only available if you return within the original four-year window. There is no pause button.
