Do I pay UK tax after moving to Australia?

In the tax year you leave you are normally still UK resident under the Statutory Residence Test, though split year treatment can limit UK worldwide-income scope to the period before departure. From the following tax year you become non-resident by passing an automatic overseas test - typically fewer than 16 UK days, or full-time work abroad. UK-source income such as rent on a kept UK property remains UK-taxable even as a non-resident.

What is split year treatment when emigrating to Australia?

The SRT assesses whole tax years, so a September move would otherwise leave you UK resident until the following 6 April. Split year treatment divides the departure year into a UK part and an overseas part where the conditions of one of three leaver cases are met: starting full-time work overseas (Case 1), accompanying a partner who does (Case 2), or ceasing to have any UK home (Case 3).

How many days can I visit the UK after moving to Australia?

As a recent leaver you are assessed under Table A of the sufficient ties test: up to 120 UK days with 1 tie, 90 days with 2 ties, 45 days with 3 ties, and only 15 days with 4 or more ties. Fewer than 16 days always keeps a leaver non-resident. Days are counted by presence at midnight.

Is transferring money from the UK to Australia taxed in the UK?

Moving your own savings or capital between countries is not itself a UK tax event. UK tax attaches to income and gains when they arise, based on your residence status at that time - not to the act of transferring money you already own. The Australian treatment of transfers and any foreign-exchange implications are a matter for Australian advice.

What happens to UK tax if I move back from Australia?

After 3 full tax years of non-residence you return as an arriver, assessed under the more generous Table B: up to 45 UK days with no ties test at all, 90 days unless you have all 4 ties, and 120 days with fewer than 3. Split year treatment on arrival has its own cases (4-8), covering starting a UK home, starting full-time UK work, or returning after full-time work overseas.

Moving to Australia From the UK: Tax, Split Year & Days

An Australian move is almost never timed to the UK tax calendar. Visas start when they start - September, January, March - which means nearly every UK-to-Australia emigrant spends their departure year straddling two tax systems. The Statutory Residence Test decides the UK side of that straddle, and it does not care that you have left: it counts days and ties for the whole tax year.

The ONS estimates around 246,000 British nationals emigrated in the year ending December 2025, and Australia remains one of the largest destinations - roughly 1.1 million UK-born people live there. Most of them got the departure-year question right by accident or by adviser. This guide is the mechanics.

Key points

A mid-year move leaves you UK resident for the whole departure year unless split year treatment applies - for Australia movers it usually can
The farewell-year trap: heavy UK presence before you fly gives you the 90-day tie for the next two tax years
Most Australia movers sever UK ties cleanly - the job is confirming you actually have
Moving your savings is not a UK tax event; what matters is your residence status when income arises
The "moving back" rules are different from the "moving out" rules - in your favour

The mid-year move: split year treatment

Say your visa activates and you start work in Sydney on 15 September. The SRT assesses the full 6 April - 5 April year, and you cannot pass an automatic overseas test for a year you half-lived in Britain - so you are UK resident for the whole departure year. Split year treatment is what stops that being a disaster: it divides the year into a UK part (worldwide income in scope) and an overseas part (broadly UK-source income only).

Three cases cover leavers:

Case 1 - starting full-time work overseas. The classic employment-visa route: you must work sufficient hours in Australia from your start date and become non-resident the following year via the third automatic overseas test. UK visits during the departure year are capped pro-rata.
Case 2 - accompanying a partner. You qualify where your partner meets Case 1 and you join them overseas.
Case 3 - ceasing to have any UK home. For movers without an immediate job: sell or end the lease on every UK home, spend fewer than 16 UK days from the point you cease to have any UK home, and within 6 months of that point either establish Australian tax residence or have your only home in Australia.

The split year guide walks through each case's conditions and split dates. The case matters - if more than one could apply, HMRC's priority ordering decides which one, not you.

Distance changes the ties maths - but check you've actually severed

Unlike a move to Spain or Dubai, a move to Australia usually ends the weekly commute home by force of geography. Most emigrants genuinely sever: home sold, family with them, job gone. For them, future years are simple - fewer than 16 UK days passes the first automatic overseas test outright, and even a longer visit rarely meets the ties threshold.

The catch is for the minority who haven't severed as cleanly as they think:

Kept UK property available to you 91+ continuous days = accommodation tie if you spend a single night there on a visit
A child under 18 remaining in the UK (boarding school, shared custody) = family tie, unless you see them in the UK on fewer than 61 days
The farewell year itself - see below

The farewell-year trap (worked example)

Priya moves to Melbourne in September 2026, having lived in the UK all her life. Her UK day count for 2026-27 (April to September, plus a Christmas trip back) is well over 90 days.

That gives her the 90-day tie for both 2027-28 and 2028-29 - the tie looks back at the previous two tax years. Suppose she also kept her London flat while deciding whether the move sticks:

Accommodation tie ✓ + 90-day tie ✓ = 2 ties → a 90-day UK budget (Table A, RFIG20520)
A six-week summer visit plus Christmas with her parents ≈ 56 days - fine
But add a third tie (say, 40+ UK workdays helping wind down her old firm - the work tie) and the budget is 45 days, and that same travel pattern makes her UK resident again

Nothing about being 17,000km away protects her - the SRT counts UK midnights (RFIG20710), subject to a deeming rule for frequent visitors with 3 or more ties (RFIG20720), wherever the rest of the year happens.

"Moving money to Australia" - what the UK actually taxes

A common worry, easily settled: transferring your savings, house proceeds, or ISA cash to an Australian account is not itself a UK tax event. You are moving capital you already own. What the UK taxes is income and gains when they arise, by reference to your residence status at that time - the salary you earn, the gain when you sell, the interest as it accrues.

So the questions that matter are sequencing ones - when does the gain arise, and what is your residence status that year - which is exactly what the SRT and split year rules determine. How Australia treats incoming funds, foreign-exchange positions, or your UK pension is Australian-side territory: take advice there.

The Australian side, briefly

Australia taxes its residents on worldwide income at progressive rates, under its own residency tests (the "resides" test, domicile, 183 days, superannuation) and its own July-June tax year. None of that interacts with the SRT - you can be resident in both at once for a period, with the UK-Australia double taxation treaty allocating taxing rights. We don't analyse the Australian side; the ATO's residency guidance is the source.

Moving back to the UK from Australia

The return move is common enough that it deserves its own arithmetic. If you have been non-resident for the previous 3 tax years, you come back as an arriver - assessed under Table B, which is materially more generous:

UK days in the return year	You become UK resident with
45 or fewer	Never (automatic overseas test)
46-90	All 4 ties
91-120	3+ ties
Over 120	2+ ties

And split year treatment works on arrival too, via Cases 4-8: starting to have your only home in the UK (Case 4), starting full-time UK work (Case 5), returning after full-time work overseas ends (Case 6, with Case 7 for partners), or starting a UK home (Case 8). A scouting trip before the family follows, a UK job that starts before the tenancy does - the case and the split date turn on details. The split year guide covers the arrival cases alongside the departure ones.

The most common mistakes

Assuming the visa date settles it. Australian residency starting does not end UK residence - only the SRT does that.

Missing the Case 1 conditions. Split year via full-time work overseas requires you to be non-resident the following year through the third automatic overseas test. A year of travel before starting work can break the chain.

Spending the farewell-year budget unknowingly. The 90-day tie from your departure year plus a kept property means your first Christmas trip home is drawing down a 90-day budget you didn't know you had.

Leaving the UK return undeclared. The departure year needs a Self Assessment residence declaration - SA109 - or a P85 if you don't file returns.

The free SRT calculator works through your departure year and every year after - automatic tests, ties, day counts - following HMRC's guidance. For the departure year itself, the Split Year Treatment Dashboard determines which case applies and computes your exact split date.

Also leaving the UK? See the guides for Dubai, Spain, Portugal and the Isle of Man, Jersey & Guernsey.