UK Statutory Residence Test calculator
The UK SRT compares your days against your ties. Enter both and see whether the sufficient-ties test makes you UK resident for the current tax year.
Days & status
Your UK ties
The rule the calculator is running
The Statutory Residence Test is set out in Schedule 45 to the Finance Act 2013 and has applied since the 2013 to 2014 tax year. HMRC's guidance note RDR3 is the working reference for it. The test is mechanical rather than a judgement call: for a single UK tax year, 6 April to 5 April, it asks a fixed sequence of questions and stops at the first one that produces an answer. You are resident for the whole of that tax year or you are not.
There are three stages, and they run in this order.
- The automatic overseas tests. If any one of them applies you are non-resident for that tax year, and your ties never come into it.
- The automatic UK tests. If no automatic overseas test applies and any one of these does, you are UK resident for that tax year, again without counting ties.
- The sufficient ties test. If neither of the first two stages settles it, you compare your UK day count against the number of UK ties you have. This is the stage the calculator above models.
Stage 1: the automatic overseas tests
You are automatically non-resident for the tax year if any of these is true.
- You spent fewer than 16 days in the UK and you were UK resident in one or more of the previous three tax years.
- You spent fewer than 46 days in the UK and you were not UK resident in any of the previous three tax years.
- You worked full time overseas across the year with no significant break, spent fewer than 91 days in the UK, and had fewer than 31 days on which you did more than three hours of work in the UK.
Stage 2: the automatic UK tests
If no automatic overseas test applies, you are automatically UK resident if any of these is true.
- You spent 183 days or more in the UK during the tax year. This is the line most people have heard of, and crossing it ends the analysis.
- The home test. Generally, there is a period of at least 91 consecutive days when you have a home in the UK, at least 30 of those days fall in the tax year, you are present in that home on at least 30 days in the year, and you either have no overseas home or spend fewer than 30 days in it.
- The work test. Generally, you work full time in the UK over a 365-day period that overlaps the tax year, with more than 75% of your working days in that period worked in the UK.
The second and third tests are why a day count under 183 proves nothing on its own. Someone whose only home is in London can be automatically resident on well under a hundred days.
Stage 3: the five UK ties
Ties are all or nothing for the year. You either have one or you do not, and part of a tie counts for nothing.
- Family tie. A spouse or civil partner you are not separated from, a partner you live with as though you were, or a child under 18 who is UK resident. Generally there is no family tie in respect of a child you see in the UK on fewer than 61 days in the year.
- Accommodation tie. Somewhere to live in the UK that is available to you for a continuous period of 91 days or more in the tax year and where you spend at least one night. If it is the home of a close relative, you generally need 16 or more nights there before it counts.
- Work tie. 40 or more days in the tax year on which you do more than three hours of work in the UK. It does not have to be a day in an office and it does not have to be for a UK employer.
- 90-day tie. 90 days or more in the UK in either of the two previous tax years. Either year on its own is enough, and the count is of the previous years, not this one.
- Country tie. Leavers only. You were in the UK at the end of the day on more days than in any other single country. The calculator disables this tie when you choose arriver, because arrivers cannot have it.
The day and tie matrix
This is what the sufficient ties stage comes down to. Find your day count on the left, then read the column that matches your history. An arriver was not UK resident in any of the previous three tax years. A leaver was resident in at least one of them, and faces the lower thresholds all the way down.
| Days in the UK | Arrivers | Leavers |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 15 | Always non-resident | Always non-resident |
| 16 to 45 | Always non-resident | Resident with 4 ties |
| 46 to 90 | Resident with 4 ties | Resident with 3 or more ties |
| 91 to 120 | Resident with 3 or more ties | Resident with 2 or more ties |
| 121 to 182 | Resident with 2 or more ties | Resident with 1 or more ties |
| 183 or more | Always resident | Always resident |
An arriver can hold at most four ties, because the country tie is closed to them. That is why the 46 to 90 band asks an arriver for all four, and why a leaver in the same band needs only three.
A worked example
Priya was UK resident up to and including the 2025 to 2026 tax year, then moved to Dubai. For 2026 to 2027, the year running 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, she is a leaver, because she was UK resident in at least one of the previous three tax years. Her year looks like this.
- 100 days in the UK, counting only days she was in the UK at the end of the day.
- 205 days in the United Arab Emirates.
- 60 days in other countries.
Running the three stages
- Stage 1. She spent more than 15 days in the UK, so the leaver version of the automatic overseas test is out. She does work full time overseas, but that route needs fewer than 91 UK days and she has 100, so it fails on the day count alone.
- Stage 2. 100 days is short of 183. Her only home is in Dubai and she does not work full time in the UK, so no automatic UK test applies.
- Stage 3. At 100 UK days she sits in the 91 to 120 band, where a leaver is resident with 2 or more ties. Now the ties decide it.
Counting her ties
- Accommodation tie: yes. The London flat stayed available to her all year and she slept there on several trips.
- 90-day tie: yes. She spent 210 days in the UK in 2025 to 2026, comfortably over 90.
- Work tie: no. She did more than three hours of work in the UK on 22 days, under the 40-day threshold.
- Family tie: no. Her spouse moved with her and there are no UK-resident children under 18.
- Country tie: no. 205 days in the UAE against 100 in the UK, so the UK is not the country where she spent the most days.
Two ties against a threshold of two. Priya is UK resident for 2026 to 2027 under the sufficient ties test, on 100 days and without ever going near 183.
Now change one number
Give her 85 UK days instead of 100 and nothing else moves: same flat, same job, same family, same two ties. But 85 puts her in the 46 to 90 band, where a leaver needs three ties, so she is non-resident. At 85 days she is also back within reach of the third automatic overseas test, which wants fewer than 91 UK days and fewer than 31 UK work days alongside full-time work abroad, so two independent routes now point the same way. Fifteen days is the entire difference, which is the argument for counting to the day as you go rather than reconstructing the year from boarding passes the following January.
What counts as a UK day
The day count is the input everything else depends on, and it is not simply the number of days you were in the country.
- The midnight rule. A day counts if you were in the UK at the end of that day. Fly out at 22:00 and that day generally does not count; fly out at 01:00 the next morning and both days do.
- Transit days. If you arrive as a passenger in transit, leave the following day, and do nothing between arrival and departure that is substantially unrelated to your passage through the UK, the day is not counted. Taking a meeting or a dinner with friends while you wait generally breaks it.
- Exceptional circumstances. Days you could not leave because of exceptional circumstances beyond your control can be disregarded, capped at 60 days in a tax year. HMRC reads this narrowly: a sudden illness or a closed border is the shape of it, deciding to stay a little longer is not.
- Deemed days. Days you were in the UK but not there at the end of the day can still be added to your count under the deeming rule, below.
The deeming rule, worked through
The deeming rule exists for people who fly in and out on the same day, often. It applies for a tax year when all three of these are true.
- You were UK resident in one or more of the previous three tax years, which is to say you are a leaver.
- You have at least three UK ties for that year.
- You have more than 30 qualifying days, meaning days you were in the UK at some point but not at the end of the day.
Where it applies, every qualifying day after the first 30 is treated as a day spent in the UK. Take a leaver with three ties who was in the UK at midnight on 40 days and also flew in and out on the same day 45 times. The first 30 of those same-day visits are ignored, the remaining 15 are added, and her day count becomes 55. At 40 days she was in the 16 to 45 band, which needs four ties, so she was non-resident. At 55 days she is in the 46 to 90 band, which needs three, and she has three. Fifteen deemed days changed the answer.
Because one of its conditions is having been UK resident in the previous three years, the deeming rule can only ever apply to leavers, and because another is holding at least three ties, it never bites on someone with two. If it applies to you, enter your deemed total in the calculator above, not just your midnights.
Where people get this wrong
- Counting the calendar year. The SRT year runs 6 April to 5 April. Counting January to December will put you in the wrong band, and it is the standard error among people who also file a US or European return.
- Treating 183 as the only line. 183 days makes you resident automatically, but being under 183 makes you nothing. Most people who are caught unexpectedly are caught between 40 and 120 days by the ties test.
- Getting arriver and leaver the wrong way round. The status looks back three tax years, not at where you live today. You can have moved abroad some time ago and still be on the leaver thresholds.
- Counting a country tie as an arriver. It does not exist for arrivers, so an arriver's maximum is four ties. Adding a fifth by hand is the quickest way to a wrong answer.
- Reading the 90-day tie as a current-year count. It looks at the two previous tax years, and 90 days in either one is enough. A heavy year two years ago can still be creating a tie now.
- Assuming an unused flat is not an accommodation tie. What matters is that it was available to you for 91 continuous days and that you spent at least one night in it. A place you keep empty and visit once still counts.
- Under-counting UK work days. A UK work day is any day with more than three hours of work done in the UK. Working from a kitchen table in Manchester counts, whoever pays you and wherever they are.
- Expecting split-year treatment to fix the count. Split-year treatment changes how a resident year is taxed. It does not change whether you were resident, and it does not reduce the days you have to be able to evidence.
What the test does not settle
Split-year treatment
If you move in or out of the UK partway through a year, split-year treatment can divide that tax year into a UK part and an overseas part for income tax. It is not a claim you can shape to taste: HMRC defines eight specific cases, Cases 1 to 3 for people leaving and Cases 4 to 8 for people arriving, each with its own conditions on homes, working hours, days, and timing. You have to be UK resident for the year under the SRT first, so the day count still comes first. The full SRT guide sets out all eight cases.
Being resident in two places at once
Nothing in the SRT stops another country treating you as resident for the same period. Where a double tax treaty applies, its residence tie-breaker generally works through permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, and nationality, in that order, stopping at the first one that resolves. Each step wants evidence, and the evidence starts with a day count for both countries. The treaty tie-breaker tool walks the sequence.
Leaving is not the end of it
Two things routinely surprise people who come out of the SRT as non-resident. Temporary non-residence rules can bring certain income and gains arising while you were away back into charge if your period of non-residence is five years or less. And residence is not domicile: from 6 April 2025 the UK generally replaced the remittance basis with a four-year foreign income and gains regime for new arrivals, which changes what a newly resident year actually costs. See the four-year FIG regime explained, or the UK rule page for the thresholds in one place.
Working through the UK SRT
How many days can I spend in the UK without becoming UK tax resident?
There is no single number, because the answer depends on your recent history and your ties. If you were UK resident in any of the previous three tax years you are only automatically non-resident below 16 days; if you were not, the automatic line is 46 days. Above those, the sufficient ties test takes over: at 91 to 120 days a leaver is resident with two ties and an arriver with three. At 183 days or more everyone is resident.
Is the UK 183-day rule the whole test?
No. Spending 183 days or more in the UK makes you automatically resident, but staying under 183 proves nothing on its own. You can be automatically resident on far fewer days if your only home is in the UK or you work full time in the UK, and the sufficient ties test can make a leaver resident from as few as 16 days if they have four ties.
What counts as a day of presence for the UK SRT?
Generally a day counts if you were in the UK at the end of that day, that is, at midnight. Same-day transit does not count provided you do nothing substantially unrelated to your passage through the UK. Up to 60 days in a tax year can be disregarded for exceptional circumstances beyond your control, and the deeming rule can add days you were present without staying the night.
What is the difference between an arriver and a leaver under the SRT?
A leaver was UK resident in one or more of the previous three tax years; an arriver was not. Leavers face lower thresholds in every band: at 121 to 182 UK days a leaver is resident with a single tie, while an arriver needs two. Leavers are also the only people who can have a country tie, and the only people the deeming rule can apply to.
What are the five UK ties in the sufficient ties test?
The family tie (a UK-resident spouse, civil partner, cohabiting partner, or child under 18), the accommodation tie (somewhere to live available to you for 91 continuous days where you spend at least one night), the work tie (40 or more days doing more than three hours of work in the UK), the 90-day tie (90 or more UK days in either of the previous two tax years), and, for leavers only, the country tie (more days in the UK than in any other single country).
Does the country tie apply to me?
Only if you are a leaver, meaning you were UK resident in one or more of the previous three tax years. It is met when you were in the UK at the end of the day on more days than in any other single country. Arrivers cannot have a country tie at all, which caps them at four ties and is why the calculator greys the option out when you select arriver.
What is the deeming rule in the UK SRT?
The deeming rule counts days you were in the UK without being there at midnight. It applies for a year when you were UK resident in one or more of the previous three tax years, you have at least three UK ties, and you have more than 30 qualifying days, which are days you were present at some point but not at the end of the day. Every qualifying day after the first 30 is then treated as a day spent in the UK, which can move you into a higher day band.
Does the UK Statutory Residence Test use the calendar year?
No. The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April the following year, so every SRT day count is measured over that window. Counting January to December is one of the most common ways to reach the wrong answer, particularly for people who also file a US or European return on a calendar year.
Does working remotely from the UK create a work tie?
It can. A UK work day is generally any day on which you do more than three hours of work in the UK, whoever employs you and wherever they are based, so remote work from a UK address counts. 40 or more such days in the tax year give you a work tie, and 31 or more can also cost you the full-time-work-overseas route to automatic non-residence.
Can I claim split-year treatment for the year I moved?
Only if your circumstances fall within one of HMRC's eight defined cases: Cases 1 to 3 for people leaving the UK and Cases 4 to 8 for people arriving. You must first be UK resident for the tax year under the SRT. Split-year treatment then divides that year into a UK part and an overseas part for income tax; it never turns a resident year into a non-resident one.
What happens if the UK and another country both treat me as resident?
That is common and not automatically a problem. Where a double tax treaty applies, its residence tie-breaker generally works through permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, and nationality, in that order, stopping at the first test that resolves. Every step of that analysis rests on a documented day count for both countries.
Is this HMRC's official SRT tool, and does it replace RDR3?
No on both counts. This is an independent, simplified model of the sufficient ties stage that runs entirely in your browser, and it does not implement every automatic test, the eight split-year cases, or the deeming rule. HMRC's RDR3 guidance is the authoritative reference, and a year that lands near a band edge is worth putting in front of a UK adviser.
Sources & further reading
Every rule on this page is drawn from primary sources. Verify the current law before making a residency decision.
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Read the full UK Statutory Residence Test guide.