You are a Scottish taxpayer for a whole tax year if you are UK resident and either have a close connection with Scotland, have no close connection anywhere in the UK but spend more days in Scotland than in any other part, or sit as a Scottish MP or MSP. With one home, the close connection test simply asks where it is; with homes in Scotland and elsewhere, it asks which is your main place of residence and for how much of the year. Where you work, where you grew up and where your pension provider is based are all irrelevant.

What does the law actually say?

The definition is in section 80D of the Scotland Act 1998. For any tax year, a Scottish taxpayer is an individual who is UK resident for income tax under the statutory residence test and meets one of three conditions:

Condition Test Where defined
A Close connection with Scotland Section 80E
B No close connection with England, Wales or Northern Ireland, and more days in Scotland than in any other part of the UK Sections 80E and 80F
C An MP for a Scottish constituency or a Member of the Scottish Parliament at any time in the year Section 80D(4)

HMRC’s Scottish Taxpayer Technical Guidance (STTG4100) adds two points. Someone who is not UK resident cannot be a Scottish taxpayer, and status applies for the whole year; you cannot be a Scottish taxpayer for part of a year. In a year of arrival or departure, split year treatment still limits which income is taxed in the UK at all. “Part of the UK” means Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, not the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.

What counts as a place of residence?

The legislation does not define it. HMRC says at STTG3100 that it takes its ordinary meaning: the dwelling where a person habitually lives, in other words their home, similar to the idea of a home in the statutory residence test. Section 80E(4) adds that a place can be on board a vessel or other means of transport.

Two points catch people out. First, a capital gains tax main residence election does not decide your main place of residence for Scottish taxpayer status (STTG3100). Second, somewhere you simply sleep while working is not necessarily a residence. HMRC’s examples include a lorry driver who often sleeps in his cab in Scotland but lives in Huddersfield, and an offshore worker whose rig and work accommodation near Aberdeen are not places of residence because they lack permanence and continuity.

How does the test work with only one home?

Under section 80E(2) you have a close connection with the part of the UK where your only place of residence is, provided you live there for at least part of the year. HMRC’s examples at STTG4300 show how little else counts:

  • Sharon lives in Carlisle and works in an office in Dumfries. She is not a Scottish taxpayer.
  • Ravi lives in Liverpool and draws pensions from an Edinburgh provider and from teaching in Glasgow. He is not a Scottish taxpayer.
  • Twins raised in Glasgow both regard themselves as Glaswegians; the one living in Glasgow is a Scottish taxpayer and the one living in Manchester is not.

What happens if you have homes in Scotland and elsewhere?

Section 80E(3) applies when you have two or more places of residence in the UK during the year. You have a close connection with Scotland if your main place of residence is in Scotland for at least part of the year, for more of the year in total than it is in each other part of the UK considered separately, and you live at a residence in Scotland for at least part of the year.

Which home is the main one?

HMRC says at STTG3700 that a main place of residence is the one with which you have the greatest degree of connection. It is often, but not necessarily, where you spend most time. The factors it lists, in no particular order and not as a box counting exercise, include:

  • where your spouse, civil partner or long term partner and family spend their time, and where your children go to school;
  • where your social life, clubs and hobbies are;
  • how each home is furnished and where most of your possessions are kept;
  • where you are registered with a doctor, dentist or optician;
  • the address used by banks, card providers and utility companies, and for car registration and insurance;
  • which home is your main residence for council tax, and where you are registered to vote.

HMRC’s examples at STTG4400 show the weighing. Jane has a family home in Kilmarnock and rents a furnished flat in Cardiff for the working week; her family, friends and clubs are in Kilmarnock, so she is a Scottish taxpayer. Bob owns a flat in Carlisle and a weekend house near Oban; his clubs and medical registrations are in Carlisle and he spends most time there, so he is not. A student in Glasgow whose possessions, bank address and GP are at his parents’ home in Norwich is not a Scottish taxpayer, but a student in Stirling who stays there through the holidays and rarely visits her parents in Cardiff has only one place of residence, in Scotland.

Moving part way through the year

A move gives you two places of residence in the same year, so the time comparison decides it. HMRC’s example: Donovan leaves Birmingham on 30 June and lives in Aberdeen for the rest of the year, so his residence was in Scotland for longer and he is a Scottish taxpayer for the whole year. Had he moved the other way on the same dates, he would not be. Each other part is compared separately, so Emily, with 125 days in Fort William, 115 in Swansea and 115 in London, is a Scottish taxpayer even though she spent more of the year outside Scotland in total.

One drafting point for exact ties: since 24 July 2018 section 80E(3)(c) has required the time in Scotland to be more of the year than the time in each other part, while some of HMRC’s manual wording still says “at least as long”. In a genuinely equal case, work from the statute.

When does day counting decide it?

Only when no close connection can be found with any part of the UK, because you have no place of residence or cannot identify a main one. Section 80F then compares the days you are in Scotland at the end of the day with the days in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, each separately. HMRC (STTG4500) adds:

  • a day counts where you are at midnight;
  • a passenger who arrives one day and leaves the UK the next, doing nothing substantially unrelated to the journey, is treated as not in the UK that night; a meal at the hotel is fine, a work meeting or a cinema trip is not;
  • Scotland includes UK territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles offshore, but nights on the continental shelf, such as on a North Sea rig, count for no part of the UK.

Example from STTG4500. Stuart has no home and works on short IT projects, staying in hotels. He spends 120 days in Scotland, 100 in England, 50 in Wales and 10 in Northern Ireland. Scotland beats each other part individually, so he is a Scottish taxpayer.

How do MPs and MSPs fit in?

Condition C makes any Scottish MP or MSP a Scottish taxpayer if they hold the role at any time in the year, wherever they live. Section 80D(4A) switches the definition off for anyone who is a Welsh parliamentarian for any part of the year, and separate rules then decide which country they belong to. The Welsh test, which mirrors this one, is covered on Welsh rates of income tax.

What evidence does HMRC look at?

HMRC says at STTG5000 that for most people the answer is simple, but where living arrangements are complex it will weigh evidence such as utility, phone and TV bills showing use of a property, parking permits, club memberships, mobile phone records, patterns of spending on food and social events, where a spouse or children are, cleaning and maintenance, home insurance, SORN declarations, mail redirection, the address on your driving licence and bank accounts, council tax and GP registration. No single item is decisive; the weight of the evidence as a whole is.

In practice HMRC sets your status from the address it holds and issues an S prefixed code. GOV.UK tells you to update your address when you move, and says any change of rate is backdated to 6 April with your PAYE deductions adjusted across the year. You can contact HMRC to change which home counts as your main one, and the online Self Assessment return has a box to say you pay Scottish Income Tax. The rates themselves are on Scottish Income Tax rates and bands.

What mistakes do people make?

  • Counting nights first. Day counting is the last resort; the main home test comes first.
  • Adding England, Wales and Northern Ireland together. Scotland is compared with each part separately.
  • Relying on a CGT nomination. It has no bearing on Scottish taxpayer status.
  • Assuming the employer’s location counts. Only where you live does.
  • Leaving HMRC with an old address. Your code will use the wrong rates until HMRC corrects the status, and the correction reaches back to 6 April.

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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.