When you come back to the UK after a spell abroad, work out first which tax year you become UK resident again and whether that year can be split. Then check whether you were away long enough to escape the temporary non residence rules, whether ten or more years away opens up the four year foreign income and gains regime, and how your overseas pensions, property, accounts and investments will be taxed once you are resident.

When do you become UK resident again?

Residence is decided tax year by tax year under the statutory residence test (HMRC guidance from RFIG20000). You are UK resident for a year if you meet one of the automatic UK tests or the sufficient ties test, and do not meet any automatic overseas test.

For someone coming back, the tests that usually decide the year are:

  • Second automatic overseas test. If you were not UK resident in any of the three previous tax years, you stay non resident for a year in which you spend fewer than 46 days in the UK (RFIG20130).
  • First automatic UK test. Spending 183 days or more in the UK makes you resident (RFIG20320).
  • Second automatic UK test. Having a UK home for a period of at least 91 consecutive days, at least 30 of them in the tax year, while you have no overseas home or spend fewer than 30 days in any overseas home (RFIG20330).
  • Third automatic UK test. Working full time in the UK over a 365 day period, with more than 75% of your days of more than three hours’ work being UK days (RFIG20370).

If none of those settles it, the sufficient ties test applies. Where you were not UK resident in any of the previous three tax years, you need all four ties if you spend more than 45 but not more than 90 days in the UK, at least three ties for more than 90 but not more than 120 days, and at least two ties above 120 days (RFIG20520, Table B). The ties are family, accommodation, work and 90 day ties (RFIG20530 to RFIG20570), so moving your family back before you follow can tip the year.

Will the year you come back be split?

If you are UK resident for a year, you are normally taxed as resident for the whole of it. Split year treatment divides the year into an overseas part and a UK part, and foreign income arising in the overseas part is then outside UK tax. There are eight cases in the legislation: Cases 1 to 3 cover leaving and Cases 4 to 8 cover arriving (RFIG21030). The arrival cases are:

  • Case 4: starting to have your only home in the UK;
  • Case 5: starting full time work in the UK;
  • Case 6: ceasing full time work overseas, where you were non resident the year before because you met the third automatic overseas test;
  • Case 7: the partner of someone ceasing full time work overseas;
  • Case 8: starting to have a home in the UK.

Cases 4 and 5 require you to have been non resident for the previous tax year and not to have had sufficient UK ties in the part of the year before the change, using reduced day counts (RFIG21150, RFIG21170). GOV.UK warns that you will not get split year treatment if you live abroad for less than a full tax year before returning. Where more than one arrival case fits, a priority rule picks the case and the split date: if Cases 5 and 6 both apply, the case with the earliest split year date wins, otherwise Case 6. You must say which case applies on the residence pages (SA109) of your return.

Were you away for five years or less?

The temporary non residence rules catch people who leave, receive income or realise gains while abroad, and come back quickly. You are temporarily non resident if you had sole UK residence in at least four of the seven tax years before the year you left and your period of non residence is five years or less (RFIG21510). To fall outside the rules, the period must be at least five years and one day.

If the rules apply, certain amounts received during the absence are taxed as if they arose in the year (or UK part of the year) you come back (RFIG21560). They include gains on assets you owned before leaving, close company distributions, flexible pension withdrawals, chargeable event gains and offshore income gains. The capital gains side is covered in our page on temporary non residence.

One change applies to people coming back now. For individuals who become UK resident on or after 6 April 2026 after a period of temporary non residence, the charge on close company dividends applies to the whole dividend, including any part paid out of trade profits made while they were away. Foreign tax paid on it can be credited (RFIG21600).

Can you use the four year foreign income and gains regime?

Since 6 April 2025 the remittance basis has gone. In its place, a qualifying new resident can claim relief from UK tax on foreign income and gains for up to four tax years. You are a qualifying new resident for a year if you are UK resident for it and were not UK resident for at least ten consecutive tax years immediately before it; the next three tax years then qualify as long as you stay resident (section 845B ITTOIA 2005, RFIG44000). Nationality and domicile are irrelevant, so a returning British citizen who has been away for more than ten full tax years can qualify.

The relief is claimed year by year and has a cost. A foreign income claim, a foreign gain claim or an overseas workday relief election for a year removes your personal allowance and your capital gains annual exempt amount for that year (EIM43580). If you will work partly abroad after returning, see overseas workday relief.

How will overseas income, pensions and property be taxed once you are back?

As a UK resident you are normally taxed on all your income wherever it arises, including foreign wages, foreign dividends and interest, overseas rental income and pensions paid from overseas schemes. UK residents also pay capital gains tax on foreign as well as UK gains. A certificate of UK residence can help you claim reduced foreign tax under a treaty.

Before you become resident, review:

What about ISAs and other accounts?

You could keep a UK ISA open while non resident but could not pay into it. Once you become UK resident again you can pay in again, subject to the annual ISA allowance. Accounts held abroad get no such shelter: once you are resident their income and gains are taxed normally unless a foreign income and gains claim covers them.

What do you need to tell HMRC, and by when?

If you will need a Self Assessment return for the year you come back and are not already registered, you must tell HMRC by 5 October after the end of that tax year; telling HMRC later can lead to a penalty. The residence pages (SA109) are where you show your residence status, the split year case and any claims under the foreign income and gains regime or for overseas workday relief. An overseas workday relief election and claim must both be made in a return by the first anniversary of 31 January following the tax year; for 2025 to 2026, that is 31 January 2028 (EIM43585).

A worked example

Illustration only. Hannah had always lived in the UK. She left in August 2022 to work full time in Singapore and was non resident for the next three tax years. She held a UK share portfolio and, while abroad, sold part of it at a gain of £40,000. She returns on 1 June 2026 to a new UK job.

  • Residence: she is UK resident for 2026 to 2027 under the third automatic UK test.
  • Split year: Case 5 (starting full time UK work) and possibly Case 6 (ceasing full time work overseas) fit. If both apply, the case with the earlier split date wins, otherwise Case 6.
  • Temporary non residence: she was away less than five years and had sole UK residence in at least four of the seven years before leaving, so the £40,000 gain on shares she owned before leaving is taxed in the UK part of 2026 to 2027.
  • FIG regime: not available, because she was away for far fewer than ten tax years.

What are the common mistakes?

  • Assuming the date you arrive back in the UK is the date you become resident, rather than testing each tax year.
  • Expecting split year treatment after less than a full tax year abroad.
  • Making a foreign income or gains claim without weighing the loss of the personal allowance and annual exempt amount.
  • Missing the 5 October deadline to register for Self Assessment (see registering for Self Assessment).

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Sources

Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 8 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.