WinnFin
 

UK News

 

21 Jun, 2011


UK residence consultation

The UK's HMRC has released its highly-awaited consultation document on a statutory definition of tax residence in the UK.  The document and proposed legislation will affect individuals who have UK connections, and have tax residency connections which may apply to income tax and capital gains tax. When enacted, the new tax residency legislation will supersede all the existing legislation and case law.


The Tax Residence Consultation is therefore designed to make it harder to become a non-UK resident when leaving the UK and make it easy to get caught up in the UK tax legislation.


However, our tax expert has below listed the criteria to what is takes to fall in the UK residency bracket.


PART A: You are considered a non UK resident if:

  • You were not resident in the UK in all of the previous three tax years, and were present in the UK for less than 45 days in the current tax year.
  • You were resident in the UK in one or more of the previous three tax years, and were present in the UK for fewer than 10 days in the current tax year.
  • Or left the UK to carry out full-time work abroad provided they that you were present in the UK for less than 90 days in the tax year, and no more than 20 days are spent working in the UK in the tax year.

PART B: You are considered a UK resident if:

  • You were present in the UK for 183 days or more in a tax year.
  • You have one or more homes only in the UK.
  • You carry out full-time work in the UK.

PART C: Connection factors for UK residency


This section states that the number of days spent in the UK, together with the connections one has established with the UK, make an impact on whether you qualify as a non-UK resident and thus outside the current UK taxation bracket.

The connections include:

  • Family - spouse or civil partner, or common law equivalent, or minor children are resident in the UK.
  • Accommodation - accessible accommodation in the UK and makes use of it during the tax year.
  • Substantial work in the UK - does substantial work in the UK (but does not work in the UK full-time).
  • Present in the UK in the previous year - spent 90 + days in the UK in either of the previous two tax years.
  • Spent more time in the UK than in other countries - more days spent in the UK in the tax year than in any other single country.

The way these connection factors are combined with days spent in the UK to determine UK residence status is as follows: (for individuals who were not resident in all of the previous three years).


Days spent in UK Impact of connection factors on residence status
Fewer than 45 days Always non-resident
45 - 89 days Resident if individual has 4 factors or more (otherwise not resident)
90 -119 days Resident if individual has 3 factors or more (otherwise not resident)
120 - 182 days Resident if individual has 2 factors or more (otherwise not resident)
183 days or more Always resident


The way these connection factors are combined with days spent in the UK to determine UK residence status is as follows: (for individuals who were resident in one or more of the previous three tax years).


Days spent in UK Impact of connection factors on residence status
Fewer than 10 days Always non-resident
10 - 44 days Resident if individual has 4 factors or more (otherwise not resident)
45 -89 days Resident if individual has 3 factors or more (otherwise not resident)
90 - 119 days Resident if individual has 2 factors or more (otherwise not resident)
120 - 182 days Resident if individual has 1 factor or more (otherwise not resident)
183 days or more Always resident


If you are thinking of moving abroad and would like some more information about UK residency tax laws, please feel free to contact one of our qualified advisers.



       
Contact Us