Non-UK Tax Residents - How Many Days Can You Spend in the UK?

The most common question I received was "how many days can I spend back in the UK once I’ve left, without creating tax issues?" This video provides insights into what factors you must take into account and the potential number of days you can spend in the UK without becoming UK tax resident again.

0:00 Introduction
1:20 Statutory Residency Test (SRT) overview
2:30 Automatic Non-Resident Test
4:38 Automatic UK Resident Test
8:24 Sufficient Ties Test
11:23 Leavers & Arrivers
11:49 Days You Can Spend in the UK (Leavers)
13:18 Days You Can Spend in the UK (Arrivers)
14:14 Split Year Treatment
16:16 Conclusion

A BIT ABOUT ME
I've been advising on international tax since 2014, and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2018. I worked for consulting firms PricewaterhouseCoopers and BDO, before I started a remote international tax consultancy firm, Degen Tax Advisers, in 2020.

I work with online entrepreneurs to help them navigate the complex world of international tax. I work with e-commerce businesses, digital nomads, content creators, tech startups, crypto investors and many more in the digital space. Like my clients I'm pretty nomadic. I've lived in the UK, US, Japan, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. Currently I'm spending most of my time around Southeast Asia.

DISCLAIMER
My videos are for general guidance, education and providing you an introduction to the concepts of international tax. They in no way constitute specific advice to your specific circumstances. I accept no liability for any reliance placed upon the content of these videos or references, therein.

[Nedmyers]

Brilliant video Andy. You explained the rules which aren't really fully understood by many expats, in a clear and concise manner. I found it very useful. Thank you.

[RajKotecha]

I've never seen anyone in finance successfully explain that - great job Andy - you are a freakin legend.

[SuperToughFish]

Good video, appreciate you putting this knowledge out there

[KA-pkwt]

Your channel is very informative. You explain things much better than many channels out there. My advice to get even more views is to do more videos on crypto/capital gain tax . People seek good info and they are hard to find

[louieslade]

Excellent and concise explanation, thank you

[segmentedsolutions]

Andy - great video - nice to see a fellow Scot explaining things in such a clear way. I'd like to add this video to the web site for my new Dubai based advisory company. So I wanted your permission. Not after any remuneration - just want to add it as a really helpful resource. It really hits the spot. I see you also offer courses etc... which again I'd be happy to link with - as well as adding a brief bio next to the video. In the UK I run a SSAS Administration business, but here in Dubai I'm in the 'tax' field - but do something different. I enable Expats to wrap up their UK property investments into a tax exempt GDEUT structure - removing IHT as well as Non-Resident Landlord taxes. Really happy to chat about this, so you know what we do and what we don't do! Because people put me in the 'tax' bucket - they think I want to discuss SRT (which is where you come in!)... I'm on the other side - once they are earning tax free wealth - how to protect it from HMRC wherever possible. (I have added a short explainer video to my SSAS channel so you can take a peep at this if you want).

[purplerhodes]

Great stuff. I seem to remember, last time I looked it up, that one of the ties is removed after being a non-resident for 3 years or more. I think, if I recall correctly, it was the country tie.

[TyrhoneTubbs]

Another excellent and informative video thanks mate. So well thought out and explained!

[iam.brayam]

Im getting ready to make a bunch of money from Crypto and dipping from the UK. Ill be sure to contact you as soon as im on my one way ticket to Puerto Rico.

[KA-pkwt]

Very useful and well articulated. Thank you

[damiansweeney]

If you work online with uk people is this a tie if you move abroad and what would you need to do to be a non resident regarding this situation

[MJCeggcup]

One thing you missed that I have seen is: "There is no significant break from your overseas work - A significant break is when at least 31 days go by and not one of those days is a day where you work for more than 3 hours overseas" This is the third bullet point in "2.3 Third Automatic overseas test". Lets say you start the tax year in the UK on April 6th. Do you need to get out of the uk before May 5th to avoid falling into this trap, even just for a few days?

[khawar]

Brilliant work, you should be getting paid from viewers to get this hard work done for them 😂

[gowthas]

Very informative video Andy. May i ask in that table at 11.50, those days, are they consecutive days or cumulative in a tax year?

[PoonHD]

Hi Andy. I want to sell some crypto I bought in 2017. I got the crypto by selling virtual items in a video game in exchange for bitcoin. The problem is I don't have any formal documentation. Because I sold the items in a video game, there's no transaction history or receipts of any kind. I would like to realise some gains soon but I have no idea how to go about doing this. If i sell some BTC and a large sum of money suddenly appears in my bank account. Won't that raise alarm bells and potentially lead to the bank freezing the money? I'm happy to do a self assesment tax return and pay 20% capital gains tax. I'm just worried as I can't prove where I got the bitcoin from. I have some screenshots of people on discord sending me bitcoin in exchange for virtual items in the game. But I dont think that is enough and the government/banks might want more official documentation. Would appreciate any advice you have.

[kclim]

Thank you for clearly explaining the UK Tax REsident issue. I wonder if you have a similar video for UK Inheritance Tax Non Resident and how to qualify this - especially the question of - Do I qualify as NON UK Inheritance Tax Resident if I emigrated to live permanently abroad but my accompanying wife wishes somehow to remain UK Citizen/Resident so that she can return to UK to live after I die.

[MrEast]

What counts as a work tie test seems unclear. If you’re a digital nomad working more than 3 hours a day in the UK but your business is foreign based, clients are in a foreign country, and you get paid in a foreign account and the only aspect of the work in the UK is you’re physically sitting inside UK while doing that work does that count as a country tie ? If yes how can they prove you worked 3 hours a day or more when you can always claim you worked 2 hours and 59 minutes and no more each day?

[GOATLAVISH]

I have seen hedge funds like Capula Investments are UK LLPs and the hedge fund owners have their partnership involvement under as a LLC. They do all this while living in the UK and there is no way they are paying 50% tax so what do they do?

[homodeus]

What if you have children in the UK and you and your children stay with your sibling during their mid-term and one school holiday?

[tyjay]

can you advise if you work full time employment (remote) for a UK employer and UK payroll. But lives out side UK ?