Am I Still a UK Tax Resident If I Live Abroad? 2026/27

Living abroad does not by itself end UK tax residence. Your status is set by the Statutory Residence Test, which counts your days in the UK and your ties here. You are usually non-resident if you spend fewer than 16 days in the UK, or work full-time abroad and spend fewer than 91 days here.

Living abroad: situation mapped to likely UK residence status

Your situation living abroad	Likely UK residence status
You spend fewer than 16 days in the UK in the tax year (and were UK resident in at least one of the previous 3 tax years)	Non-resident under the first automatic overseas test
You spend fewer than 46 days in the UK and were not UK resident in any of the previous 3 tax years	Non-resident under the second automatic overseas test
You work full-time abroad (averaging at least 35 hours a week, no significant break), spend fewer than 91 days in the UK, and work more than 3 hours on fewer than 31 of those days	Non-resident under the third automatic overseas test
You spend 183 or more days in the UK in the tax year	UK resident under an automatic UK test, regardless of living abroad
You spend more than 16 days but do not meet an automatic overseas test, and you keep UK ties such as family, accommodation or work	Decided by the sufficient ties test: the more UK ties you have, the fewer UK days you can spend before becoming resident
You leave the UK part-way through the tax year to live or work abroad	The year may be split, so you are taxed as a UK resident up to your departure and as a non-resident afterwards