Last updated · English · free calculator
Two systems decide what a move to the UK does to your taxes. The Statutory Residence Test (SRT) decides whether you are a UK tax resident at all. If you are a recent arrival, the Foreign Income and Gains (FIG) regime — new from April 2025, replacing the old non-dom remittance basis — decides how your foreign income is treated for your first four years.
The Statutory Residence Test in one paragraph
The SRT (ITA 2007 s.5, with HMRC’s RDR3 guidance) is a decision tree: automatic overseas tests (fewer than 16 UK days with no UK work, or fewer than 46 full days, and so on), automatic UK tests (183+ days, or a UK home plus work), and — between the two — a ties-based middle zone where day counts are checked against five ties: family, accommodation, work, 90-day history, and country presence. You count a day by physical presence at midnight. Split-year treatment can fence off the arrival year so pre-move income stays outside UK tax.
FIG: the four-year window
- If you were not UK-resident in the previous ten consecutive tax years, your first four UK tax years of residence can elect FIG treatment.
- FIG gives 100% relief on foreign-sourced income and gains — dividends, interest, rent, gains — while you remain eligible.
- UK employment income and UK-source income are taxed normally; the regime is about the foreign side.
- After year four, worldwide income falls into the ordinary UK net with no grandfathering.
Real UK take-home numbers
| Scenario (2025-26) | Income tax + National Insurance | Net take-home | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| £50,000 salary, standard | £7,486 | £42,514 | 15.0% |
| £80,000 salary, standard | £19,432 | £60,568 | 24.3% |
| £80,000 foreign employment income, FIG-eligible | £0 | £80,000 | 0.0% |
Read the third row carefully: it describes a FIG-eligible individual whose £80,000 is foreign employment income — a scenario that only exists if the SRT or split-year rules actually put you in the FIG window and the income is genuinely foreign-sourced. Take a UK job with a UK payroll and the standard rows are your reality. The SRT question is not paperwork; it is the difference between rows two and three.
What the UK engine does not model yet
- Scottish and Welsh income-tax band differences (the engine uses the rUK structure).
- Pension contributions, student loans and the child benefit charge.
- The remittance-basis details of mixed funds (relevant to pre-2025 arrivals still within old rules).
Frequently asked questions
- I spend 150 days a year in the UK — am I resident?
- Between 47 and 182 UK days, the answer depends on your ties. More ties mean fewer days needed to make you resident. Run the day counts against the ties table in RDR3 — or use a tool that implements it.
- Does FIG apply to my salary if my employer is British?
- No — UK employment income for UK duties is taxed normally. FIG shelters foreign-sourced income and gains during the four-year window.
- What happened to the old non-dom remittance basis?
- It closed to new claimants from April 2025. Long-term residents have transition rules; FIG is the forward-looking regime for arrivals.
- Why do the numbers say 2025-26?
- The UK tax year runs April to April and the engine implements 2025-26 exactly rather than projecting 2026-27 from unconfirmed figures. UK numbers without a confirmed HMRC basis are guesswork.
Run the numbers yourself
One salary, five countries, ten seconds - the same engine this article describes, free and without signup.