Moving Abroad UK Tax & Residency Calculator (2025/26)

Country determines DTA status, FX pair, cost of living and destination tax profile. 30 destinations covered with full reciprocity data.

Be honest about UK days including unplanned trips. Model best case (15 days, no ties) and realistic case (40 days, accommodation tie) — if both give automatic/sufficient non-residence you have margin.

Salary from UK employer, UK rental, UK pension drawdown. Don't forget SIPP drawdowns and dividends from UK-listed shares (though dividends aren't in this calculator).

Only non-domiciles in the year of arrival/departure can claim OWR. If you're UK-dom moving abroad permanently, OWR does not apply — your UK salary for UK work stays fully UK-taxed.

Automatic overseas = you're safe. Sufficient-ties non-resident with 1 margin = fragile, keep UK days low. Automatic UK = you cannot claim non-residence; stay or accept UK-resident tax treatment.

P85 → NRL1 → DT-Individual are the Big Three. Add Certificate of Residence from destination, Class 2/3 NI, and destination tax registration.

Schedule 45 Part 3 FA 2013 defines 8 cases. For leavers: Case 1 — starting full-time overseas work (most commercial); Case 2 — partner of someone in Case 1; Case 3 — ceasing to have any UK home. For arrivers: Cases 4–8 (starting UK home, starting UK work etc.). Crucially: split-year is not optional — if you meet the conditions it applies automatically, and conditions are strict (e.g. Case 1 requires 35+ hour weeks abroad for 365+ days straddling the tax year). If multiple cases could apply, the "earliest-first" rule determines the split date. You declare split-year on your SA109 return.

OWR exempts from UK tax the portion of your UK-source salary attributable to workdays spent outside the UK, only if you are non-UK domiciled and in the year of arrival/departure. If you have 200 overseas workdays and 60 UK workdays, 200/260 of your salary escapes UK tax. Key conditions: salary must be paid into a non-UK bank account (to satisfy remittance basis rules), claimed via Self Assessment, and the employer typically needs a dual-contract arrangement or Net of Foreign Tax Credit arrangement. OWR ends after the first 3 tax years of UK residence for arrivers. Major change 2025: the Labour government abolished non-dom status from 6 April 2025 and replaced remittance basis with a 4-year Foreign Income and Gains (FIG) regime. OWR remains available under the FIG regime for 4 years of UK residence but the detailed mechanics differ — seek specific advice if OWR materially affects you.

If your only home during the tax year is in the UK — owned, rented, or lived in for 91+ continuous days with 30+ days spent in the tax year — you are automatically UK resident regardless of days. "Only home" is relative: if you have an Airbnb-able flat in Lisbon but a 4-bed family house in Surrey where your family lives, HMRC may argue your "only home in the tax year" was the Surrey house. To break this test cleanly, secure a permanent residential home in your destination (rental agreement of 6+ months, utility bills in your name, registered at that address with the destination authorities). This is often the make-or-break test for people retaining UK property.

From 6 April 2025, the government replaced the centuries-old remittance basis for non-domiciles with a residence-based 4-year Foreign Income and Gains (FIG) regime. New arrivers to the UK who have been non-resident for 10+ years can elect to be exempt from UK tax on foreign income and gains for their first 4 tax years (without needing to keep it offshore). After 4 years, they become taxed on worldwide arising income and gains like any other UK resident. Transitional rules exist for existing non-doms (Temporary Repatriation Facility allowing remittance of pre-6 April 2025 FIG at reduced rates; 50% reduction in foreign income tax charge for 2025/26). If you were considering a return to the UK, this significantly shortens the non-dom window — consult a cross-border specialist.

UK Inheritance Tax (IHT) applies to worldwide assets of UK-domiciled individuals. UK domicile is sticky — moving abroad doesn't automatically change your domicile status. Under old rules you became "deemed-domiciled" for IHT after 15 of 20 UK tax years; that ends and a rolling 10-year tail applies from 6 April 2025 (under the residence-based regime). A domiciled-UK British expatriate in Spain dying with £2m of Spanish assets is still subject to UK IHT on the lot above the £325k/£500k nil-rate-bands — plus Spanish IHT on Spanish-situs assets. Coordinate wills across jurisdictions, consider life insurance to cover IHT liability, and if genuinely abandoning UK intention to return, acquire a domicile of choice in the destination (evidenced by property purchase, citizenship application, cutting UK ties completely).