Temporary periods of non-residence

This is the ninth article in a series on the Statutory Residence Test

You will be regarded as temporarily non-resident if:

  • following a period when you were solely UK resident, periods occur where you do not have sole UK residence;
  • in four of the seven tax years before your year of departure you had either a sole residence in the UK or the year was a split year in part of which you had a sole UK residence; and
  • your period of non-residence is five years or less. ‘Years’ in this context mean ‘periods of 12 months’, not tax years.  It will now cover a wider range of taxes.

If you are 'treaty non-resident', you are regarded as resident abroad for the purpose of the double tax treaty appropriate to the tax jurisdiction in question.

If you return to the UK after a period of temporary non-residence, you will become liable to tax in the year or part year on certain income or gains:

  • accruing;
  • arising;
  • certain pension payments, lump sums and other charges;
  • income taxable under disguised remuneration rules;
  • remitted foreign income (for those on the remittance basis);
  • loans to participators written off or released;
  • offshore income gains; or
  • capital gains.

To access other articles in this series, visit the 'Statutory Residence Test' section on this page.