The full time work abroad test: averaging 35 hours

The full time work abroad test, formally the third automatic overseas test, makes you non UK resident for a tax year if you work an average of 35 hours or more a week overseas, have no significant break from overseas work, have fewer than 31 days on which you do more than three hours’ work in the UK and spend fewer than 91 days in the UK. The 35 hour average is worked out with a five step formula in paragraph 14 of Schedule 45 to the Finance Act 2013, using hours actually worked, and only certain leave and job gaps can shorten the period you average over.

Who can use the full time work abroad test?

The test is one of the automatic overseas tests in the statutory residence test, which are checked before anything else. Meeting it settles the year: you are not UK resident, whatever your UK ties. It applies to employees and to the self employed. Work means duties of an employment or activities in the course of a trade (paragraph 26). A voluntary post with no contract of service is not an employment for these purposes (paragraph 26(8)).

The test is not available if, at any time in the year, you have a relevant job on board a vehicle, aircraft or ship and at least six of your trips in that job are cross border trips that begin in the UK, end in the UK or both (paragraph 14(4)). HMRC says at RFIG20780 that pilots, cabin crew, ferry staff, mariners and international lorry drivers may have relevant jobs, and that a job is likely to be relevant if 80% or more of the journeys are cross border.

How is the 35 hour average calculated?

Paragraph 14(3) sets out five steps, explained by HMRC at RFIG20150:

1. Disregarded days. Identify every day in the tax year on which you do more than three hours’ work in the UK, including days when you also work overseas.
2. Net overseas hours. Add up the hours you actually worked overseas in the year across all employments and trades, ignoring any overseas hours on disregarded days. HMRC says this is the hours actually worked, not contracted hours.
3. Reference period. Start with 365 days, or 366 if the year includes 29 February, and subtract the disregarded days and any days allowed for leave and gaps between jobs.
4. Weeks. Divide the reference period by 7. If the answer is more than 1 and not a whole number, round down. If it is less than 1, round up to 1.
5. Average. Divide net overseas hours by the number of weeks. If the answer is 35 or more, you work sufficient hours overseas.

A day with more than three hours of UK work therefore removes that whole day from both sides of the calculation, so a short UK meeting on an otherwise full overseas day costs you that day’s overseas hours.

Which days and gaps can be taken out of the reference period?

Paragraph 28 allows these reductions:

• Annual leave and parenting leave, if the amounts are reasonable. What is reasonable depends on the nature of the work and the countries where you work. Parenting leave means maternity, paternity, adoption or parental leave (RFIG20180).
• Sick leave, where you cannot reasonably be expected to work because of the illness or injury.
• Embedded non working days, such as a weekend, but only if there are at least three consecutive days of leave immediately before and at least three after.
• Gaps between employments, where you change jobs and do no work at all in between. Each gap is capped at 15 days, and the total for all gaps in the year is capped at 30.

No reduction can be made for a disregarded day, and if leave adds up to a part day across the period, the total is rounded down. HMRC’s view at RFIG20160 is that the gap deduction does not apply to the self employed. Where a gap spans 5 April, only the part falling in the tax year is subtracted.

Ordinary weekends and public holidays are not deducted unless they are embedded in a block of leave. They simply stay in the reference period, which is why the average is a weekly figure: a five day week of seven hours a day gives exactly 35.

What are the limits on UK workdays and UK days?

Alongside the hours, paragraph 14(1) requires:

• fewer than 31 days in the year on which you do more than three hours’ work in the UK, and
• fewer than 91 days spent in the UK.

Days on which you do three hours or less of UK work do not count towards the 31, although HMRC reminds you at RFIG20740 that the pay for them is still part of your UK taxable income. Work is located where it is actually done, regardless of where the employer is (paragraph 27). Work done while travelling to or from the UK by air, sea or the Channel Tunnel counts as overseas work until you get off the plane, ship or train.

The 91 day count excludes days that are UK days only because of the deeming rule (paragraph 14(2)). Days spent in the UK because of exceptional circumstances can reduce the 91 day count, but not the count of UK workdays or the significant break rule (RFIG22220 and RFIG22230).

What is a significant break from overseas work?

Under paragraph 29(2) there is a significant break if at least 31 days pass without a single day on which you either do more than three hours’ work overseas or would have done but for annual, sick or parenting leave. One such break anywhere in the year means you fail the test. HMRC’s example at RFIG20140 is a worker whose overseas contract ends on 28 February and whose next overseas job starts on 7 April: the 36 days between 1 March and 5 April are a significant break, so he fails the test for that year.

What does a worked example look like?

Illustration only. Priya is employed in Singapore for the whole of 2026 to 2027, a year with 365 days. She has 12 days on which she works more than three hours in the UK, takes 25 days of annual leave and 3 days of sick leave, none on disregarded days and with no embedded weekends, and actually works 1,800 hours overseas on her other days.

Step	Calculation	Result
1 Disregarded days	UK workdays over 3 hours	12
2 Net overseas hours	Actual hours on other days	1,800
3 Reference period	365 minus 12 minus 28	325
4 Weeks	325 divided by 7 is 46.43, rounded down	46
5 Average	1,800 divided by 46	39.1 hours

She also spends 60 days in the UK, has 12 UK workdays and takes no break of 31 days, so she meets the test and is not UK resident. If she had worked 1,550 hours overseas, the average would be 33.7 and she would fail, leaving her to check the other tests and her ties.

How does the test link to split year treatment?

The same calculation is used for Case 1 (starting full time work overseas) and Case 6 (ceasing full time work overseas) of split year treatment, but over the relevant part of the year rather than the whole tax year (RFIG20150). The 30 day cap on gaps between jobs is reduced pro rata for a part year (RFIG20160). Someone leaving the UK part way through a year often fails the whole year test but qualifies for a split year instead. For the employment income side of working abroad, see overseas workday relief and working remotely from abroad.

What mistakes do people make?

• Using contracted hours rather than hours actually worked.
• Deducting every weekend and public holiday, when only embedded non working days can come out.
• Forgetting that step 4 rounds down, which can push a borderline average under 35.
• Treating a day with exactly three hours of UK work as a UK workday. Only more than three hours counts.
• Missing a gap of 31 days or more between contracts, which fails the test outright.
• Keeping no diary. RFIG21930 says you should record where you worked, the hours on days over three hours, travel, training, leave and gaps between jobs, with contracts and timesheets to back them up.

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Related Accountapedia entries

• The family tie under the statutory residence test
• The 90 day tie under the statutory residence test
• Salaried hours work and the National Minimum Wage
• The accommodation tie under the SRT
• The statutory residence test

See also: UK IT consultants working abroad: the tax guide.

Sources

• legislation.gov.uk: Act 2013 c. 29, schedule 45
• legislation.gov.uk: Act 2013 c. 29, schedule 45
• legislation.gov.uk: Act 2013 c. 29, schedule 45
• legislation.gov.uk: Act 2013 c. 29, schedule 45
• legislation.gov.uk: Act 2013 c. 29, schedule 45
• GOV.UK: Manual page RFIG20150
• GOV.UK: Manual page RFIG20160
• GOV.UK: Manual page RFIG20180
• GOV.UK: Manual page RFIG20140
• GOV.UK: Manual page RFIG20780

Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.