Split year treatment 2026: the 8 cases that cut a UK tax year in two

Under the Statutory Residence Test you are either UK resident for a whole tax year or not at all, so a person who moves on 24 September would, on the plain test, stay resident for income received up to the next 5 April. Split year treatment is the correction. HMRC's manual, at RFIG21000 onwards, cuts the year into a UK part, charged as a UK resident, and an overseas part, charged for most purposes as a non-resident. It covers only people who are UK resident for the year in question, so the first step is always to run the test itself. You must then go through each of the eight cases and see whether you meet all of its conditions. You do not opt in: RFIG21010 says that if you meet the conditions the treatment applies and you have no choice. Nor does it change your residence for a double taxation agreement, according to RFIG21020, or for the 3-year look-back in the rest of the test.

Eight cases, and which side of the move they cover

GOV.UK's short version says that when you move the year is "usually" split. The manual is more demanding: the year is split only if all of a case's conditions are met. GOV.UK itself adds that you will not get the treatment if you live abroad for less than a full tax year before returning. Read the conditions below rather than rely on the summary.

Leaving the UK: Cases 1, 2 and 3

All three need you to be UK resident for the tax year and the previous one, and non-resident for the following one. That last point means you may have to wait until the next year has played out before you can be sure, which is worth keeping in mind for your return.

Case 1: full-time work abroad

You must also be non-resident next year because you meet the third automatic overseas test, and you must meet the overseas work criteria during a relevant period running from a day with more than 3 hours of overseas work to the last day of the tax year. In that period you must work full-time overseas, have no significant break, and stay within two limits that shrink through the year. The later you leave, the less room you get:

The full-time check is the 35-hour calculation of the third automatic overseas test, applied to that period. HMRC's example is Richard, seconded to Madrid from 3 November 2014, with a limit of 37 UK days and 12 UK workdays. He returns for a project in December, works 11 UK days, and takes leave. His reference period comes to 135 days, his 670 overseas hours divided by 19 give 35.26, and his overseas part starts on 3 November. Amanda's case is simpler: a job in India from 10 November 2013, 14 days at home at Christmas with no work, overseas part from 10 November.

Case 2: following a partner

Your partner must fall within Case 1 for this year or the last. You must have lived together in the UK at some point in this year or the last, and you must move so that you can live together while your partner works overseas. From your deemed departure day, the later of the day you join your partner and the first day of your partner's overseas part, you must have no UK home, or spend the greater part of your time in your overseas home, and stay within the UK day limit in the right-hand column above. Peter joins Amanda in India on 8 January 2014 with a limit of 22 days. If you later separate, the split stands, provided you met the other conditions.

Case 3: giving up your UK home

You have a UK home at the start of the year and at some point cease to have any UK home for the rest of it. From then on you must spend fewer than 16 days in the UK and, within 6 months, become tax resident in one country, or be present there at the end of each day for 6 months, or have your only home or all your homes there. Maureen moves out on 24 September 2014, spends two nights in a hotel, and flies to the UAE on 26 September. Her overseas part starts on 24 September, the day she no longer had a UK home, and not the day she left. Keeping a flat that still counts as your home closes this case.

If you meet more than one of Cases 1 to 3, RFIG21030 gives priority to Case 1, then Case 2.

Coming to the UK: Cases 4 to 8

All five need you to be UK resident for the year and non-resident for the previous one. Cases 4, 5 and 8 add a condition that catches people who visited before the move: you must not have had sufficient UK ties for the part of the year before your arrival point, measured with reduced day counts. Each date below replaces the usual band limits of 15, 45, 90 and 120 days in the ties tables:

Case 4 applies when you start to have your only home, or all your homes, in the UK and keep that position to the end of the year. Olan moves from Germany and signs a London lease on 1 July 2013: his UK part starts that day, not on the day of the flight in June.

Case 5 applies when you meet the third automatic UK test over a period of 365 days. Andrea arrives from Poland on 20 May 2013 for a visit and takes a job on 10 June: her average over the 365 days from that date comes to 35.91 hours, even though she starts part-time.

Case 6 applies if you were non-resident last year through the third automatic overseas test, were UK resident in at least one of the 4 tax years before that, stop working full-time overseas, and are UK resident next year. The year splits at the end of your overseas work, within limits that grow through the year, from 2 UK workdays and 7 UK days in April up to 30 and 90 by March. Edward's last Swiss workday is 31 October 2014, so his UK part starts on 1 November, though he flies home on 3 November.

Case 7 follows a partner in Case 6, from a deemed arrival day. You must have had no UK home before it, or have spent most of your time in your overseas home, and stayed within the UK day limit. Joan arrives five days after Edward and her year splits on her own arrival, 8 November.

Case 8 applies if you start to have a UK home during the year, keep one for the rest of the year and all of the next, and are resident next year in a year that is not itself split. Unlike Case 4, you can keep a home abroad. Nicola, retired in Cyprus, moves into her let UK property on 4 August 2014 and splits her time between the two.

Where several arrival cases overlap, RFIG21030 sets priorities. Case 6 or Case 7 alongside Case 5 goes to the earliest split year date, and otherwise to Case 6 or 7. Among Cases 4, 5 and 8, the case with the earliest split date takes priority.

What the split changes, and what stays the same

The overseas part is charged as a non-resident for most purposes, and that wording matters: the manual sends you to HMRC's RDR1 booklet for how each kind of income is treated, and we have not gone through it line by line here. A split year still counts as a full year of UK residence when the tests ask about the 3 previous years, under RFIG20510 and RFIG20120. So a person who left in September stays on Table A and the 16-day limit for longer than they may assume. The split is not for everyone, either: RFIG21020 says it applies only to you as an individual, in a limited way to trustees, and not to personal representatives. You also state the case on your Self Assessment return, according to GOV.UK.

Why the calculator here stops at residence

Our calculator does not decide a split year, because the eight cases depend on facts about homes, partners and hours that no day count can test. What it does is the essential first step: from your dates in the year of the move and your ties, it shows whether you are UK resident at all. If you are not, this page does not concern you for that year. If you are, go through the cases above, then check the next year, because the leaving cases all rest on it. The default trips show a person leaving in late September, then returning for Christmas. Change the year to see the next one, and see the Statutory Residence Test calculator for the wider test, or how UK days are counted. The Taxlag app can hold the dates across both years.