Who it applies to
Anyone spending time in the UK who needs to determine their UK tax residency status, whether arriving, leaving, or living between the UK and another country. The test distinguishes "leavers" (UK resident in one or more of the previous three tax years) from "arrivers" (not UK resident in any of the previous three tax years), since the day thresholds differ between the two.
How it's counted
The test is applied in order — you stop at the first test that applies to you.
- Days are counted by midnights: a day counts only if you are in the UK at the end of it. Your arrival day counts and your departure day does not, and a visit that starts and ends on the same day counts as none. HMRC also has two exceptions this calculator does not model: transit days, which do not count, and the deeming rule, which can add days for people with several UK ties.
- Automatic overseas test: leavers present fewer than 16 days in the UK, or arrivers present fewer than 46 days, are automatically non-resident.
- Automatic UK test: anyone present 183 days or more in the UK is automatically resident, regardless of ties.
- Sufficient ties test: if neither automatic test applies, count your UK "ties" — family, accommodation, work (40+ days worked in the UK), the 90-day tie (more than 90 days in the UK in either of the previous two tax years), and the country tie (UK was the country where you spent the most days that year, which only applies to leavers).
- The number of ties needed depends on your day count band and leaver/arriver status: leavers need 4 ties for 16–45 days, 3 for 46–90 days, 2 for 91–120 days, and 1 for 121–182 days; arrivers need 4 ties for 46–90 days, 3 for 91–120 days, and 2 for 121–182 days.
Worked example
Suppose you are a leaver who spent 100 days in the UK in the tax year, with a family tie and an accommodation tie (2 ties total). Neither automatic test applies (100 days is between 16 and 183), so the sufficient ties test applies. At 91–120 days, a leaver needs 2 ties to be resident — with exactly 2 ties, you would be classed as UK resident for that tax year.
Common questions
Is the 90-day tie 90 days or more, or more than 90 days?
It is strictly more than 90 days (91 or more) in either of the previous two tax years. Spending exactly 90 days in a prior year does not count toward this tie.
Can the country tie apply to someone arriving in the UK?
No, the country tie only applies to leavers. Arrivers are assessed on the other four ties (family, accommodation, work, and the 90-day tie).
What if I'm exactly on a day-count boundary, like exactly 183 days?
183 days or more triggers the automatic UK test on its own, regardless of ties, so you would be resident. The automatic overseas test's thresholds (16 and 46 days) work the same way — the stated number itself already fails that test; you need strictly fewer days than the threshold to qualify as automatically non-resident.
Do work ties require 40 consecutive days?
No, the work tie is based on the total number of days worked in the UK during the tax year reaching 40 or more — the days do not need to be consecutive.