What is split year treatment in the UK?

Split year treatment is an HMRC rule that divides a tax year into two parts - a UK part (taxed as a UK resident) and an overseas part (taxed as a non-resident) - when you leave or arrive in the UK part-way through the year. It applies automatically if you meet one of 8 sets of conditions; you cannot choose whether it applies.

Do I have to claim split year treatment?

You do not claim it in the usual sense. If you are UK resident for a tax year and meet the conditions for one of the 8 cases, treatment applies automatically. You must assess each case yourself and declare the correct split on your Self Assessment tax return.

Does split year treatment apply if I am non-resident for the whole year?

No. Split year treatment only applies to a tax year in which you are UK resident under the Statutory Residence Test. If you are fully non-resident for the entire year, there is no UK part to divide.

What happens if I qualify for more than one split year case?

Priority ordering rules apply (RFIG21030). For leavers, Case 1 takes priority over Cases 2 and 3; Case 2 takes priority over Case 3. The priority rules for arrival cases (4–8) are more complex and depend on which case produces the earliest split year date.

Does split year treatment affect double taxation treaty claims?

No. Per RFIG21020, split year treatment does not affect whether you are regarded as UK resident for the purposes of any double taxation agreement. Treaty tie-breaker rules operate independently of split year treatment.

When does the overseas part start for someone leaving the UK?

It depends on the case. For Case 1 (full-time work overseas), it starts on the first day you do more than 3 hours of overseas work. For Case 2 (partner of an overseas worker), it starts on your deemed departure day - the day you join your partner abroad. For Case 3 (ceasing to have a UK home), it starts on the day you no longer have any home in the UK.

How many days can I spend in the UK during the overseas part of a split year?

It depends on when your overseas part starts. HMRC publishes a table (RFIG21070) showing the permitted number of UK days and UK working days for each month. If your overseas part starts in September, you can spend up to 52 days in the UK for the rest of the year. If it starts in November, the limit is 37 days.

Split Year Treatment: What It Is and When It Applies

If you leave the UK part-way through a tax year, the Statutory Residence Test will typically still classify you as UK resident for that entire year. Split year treatment fixes this: it divides the year into a UK part and an overseas part, so that you are only taxed as a UK resident up to the point you leave. If you meet the conditions, it applies automatically - there is no choice in the matter.

Key points

Split year treatment only applies if you are UK resident for the year - it splits that year, it does not make you non-resident
There are 8 cases in total: Cases 1–3 for people leaving the UK, Cases 4–8 for people arriving
If you qualify, the treatment must be applied - it is not optional
The date at which the year splits varies by case and depends on your specific circumstances
Split year treatment does not affect your position under a double taxation treaty

Why split year treatment exists

Under the Statutory Residence Test, your residence status is determined for a whole tax year - you are either UK resident or non-resident for the full year. Without split year treatment, someone who moved abroad on 1 July would be UK resident for the entire year, taxed on worldwide income from 6 April through to 5 April, even though they had been living overseas for most of it.

Split year treatment was introduced to prevent this outcome. It divides the year at a defined point:

UK part: you are taxed as a UK resident - on worldwide income
Overseas part: for most purposes you are taxed as a non-resident - generally only UK-source income is in scope

Per RFIG21010, if the conditions of a case are met, the split applies. The individual has no discretion over whether it applies.

The 8 cases: overview

HMRC defines 8 distinct circumstances in which split year treatment can apply (RFIG21030).

Leaver cases - you are UK resident and go overseas mid-year:

Case	Scenario
Case 1	You start full-time work overseas
Case 2	You are the partner of someone who qualifies for Case 1
Case 3	You cease to have a UK home

Arriver cases - you were non-resident and come to the UK mid-year:

Case	Scenario
Case 4	You start to have a UK home only (no overseas home)
Case 5	You start full-time work in the UK
Case 6	You cease full-time work overseas
Case 7	You are the partner of someone who qualifies for Case 6
Case 8	You start to have a UK home (which may include an overseas home)

For most people leaving the UK, one of Cases 1–3 will apply. The conditions for each are different and non-interchangeable.

Case 1: Starting full-time work overseas

This is the most common case for people relocating for employment or taking a contract abroad.

Conditions (RFIG21040):

You are UK resident for the tax year in question
You were UK resident for the previous tax year
You are non-UK resident in the following tax year because you meet the third automatic overseas test (full-time work abroad) - even if you also meet the first automatic overseas test that year
You satisfy the overseas work criteria during a "relevant period"

What is the relevant period? It is a period that begins with a day in the current tax year on which you do more than 3 hours of overseas work, and runs to the end of the tax year (RFIG21050). In practice, it starts on your first day of overseas work.

The overseas work criteria (RFIG21060):

You work full-time overseas throughout the relevant period
No significant break from overseas work during that period
You do not work in the UK for more than 3 hours on more than the permitted number of days
You spend no more than the permitted number of days in the UK

The permitted limits depend on when the relevant period starts. HMRC publishes a table at RFIG21070 giving the permitted UK days (column Y) and permitted UK working days (column X) based on the start month of the relevant period:

Relevant period starts	Permitted UK work days (X)	Permitted UK days (Y)
6–30 April	30	90
1–31 May	27	82
1–30 June	25	75
1–31 July	22	67
1–31 August	20	60
1–30 September	17	52
1–31 October	15	45
1–30 November	12	37
1–31 December	10	30
1–31 January	7	22
1–29 February	5	15
1–31 March	2	7
1–5 April	0	0

When does the overseas part start? On the first day of the relevant period - i.e., the first day you do more than 3 hours of overseas work.

Worked example: Sarah leaves for Dubai

Sarah has lived and worked in London her entire career. In the 2024–25 tax year she accepts a three-year employment contract in Dubai. Her first day of work in Dubai is 1 September 2024.

She returns to the UK once, in January 2025, for 10 days - 8 of which are UK working days. She flies back to Dubai on 20 January and works there until 5 April 2025.

Checking the conditions:

UK resident for 2024–25? Yes - she has not spent enough time abroad before 5 April 2025 to pass the automatic overseas tests for the full year
UK resident for 2023–24? Yes
Non-UK resident for 2025–26 via the third automatic overseas test? She will work full-time in Dubai throughout 2025–26 - yes
Overseas work criteria from 1 September 2024 to 5 April 2025?
- Relevant period starts in September → permitted limits: X = 17 UK working days, Y = 52 UK days
- Sarah spent 10 days in the UK - within the 52-day limit ✓
- She worked in the UK for 8 days - within the 17-day limit ✓
- No significant break from overseas work ✓

Result: Sarah qualifies for Case 1 split year treatment. Her UK part runs from 6 April 2024 to 31 August 2024. Her overseas part runs from 1 September 2024 to 5 April 2025. UK-source income earned during the overseas part (such as rental income from a UK property) remains taxable in the UK; her Dubai employment income does not.

Case 2: Partner of someone starting full-time work overseas

If your partner qualifies for Case 1 (in the same year or the previous year), and you move overseas to live with them, you may qualify for Case 2 - even if you are not working yourself.

Key conditions (RFIG21090):

UK resident this year and the previous year
Non-UK resident the following year
Your partner meets Case 1 this year or the previous tax year
You were living together in the UK at some point in this or the previous tax year
You move overseas specifically to continue living together while your partner works there
From your deemed departure day: no UK home (or, if you retain one, you spend the greater part of your time in the overseas home), and you stay within the permitted UK day limits

Deemed departure day (RFIG21110): the later of:

The day you join your partner overseas to live together
The first day of your partner's overseas part (their Case 1 split date)

Example: Tom is Sarah's husband. He moves to Dubai on 15 October 2024 to live with her. Sarah's Case 1 split date is 1 September 2024. Tom's deemed departure day is the later of 15 October and 1 September - so 15 October 2024. His UK part ends on 14 October; his overseas part starts on 15 October.

Case 3: Ceasing to have a UK home

Case 3 applies to people who leave the UK without necessarily working full-time abroad - for example, moving to be with a partner overseas, or retiring.

Key conditions (RFIG21130):

UK resident this year and the previous year
Non-UK resident the following year
Had a UK home at the start of the tax year
Ceases to have any UK home at some point during the year

From the point you cease to have a UK home, you must also:

Spend fewer than 16 days in the UK for the rest of the tax year
Within 6 months: become tax resident in another country, be present there at the end of each day for 6 months, or have your only home there

When does the overseas part start? On the day you cease to have a UK home.

The HMRC example (RFIG21140): Maureen moves out of her UK flat on 24 September 2014 and flies to the UAE. She has no close family in the UK and does not return before 5 April 2015. Her overseas part starts on 24 September - the first day she had no UK home.

Important: the 16-day limit after ceasing to have a UK home is strict. A couple of brief return visits in the remaining months of the year could easily breach it, disqualifying Case 3 entirely.

Priority rules

If your circumstances fit more than one leaver case, priority rules determine which case applies and what date the year splits from (RFIG21030):

Case 1 > Case 2 > Case 3

Case 1 takes priority over both Case 2 and Case 3. Case 2 takes priority over Case 3.

Cases 4–8: arriving in the UK

If you are coming to the UK mid-year from abroad, the relevant cases are 4–8. These mirror the leaver cases in structure: you are classified as UK resident for the year as a whole, but the UK part runs only from your arrival trigger date. Case 5 (starting full-time UK work) and Case 8 (starting to have a UK home) are the most common for people relocating to the UK for work.

What this means in practice

For a full walkthrough of the steps to take before and after leaving - including how to count UK days, which ties to watch, and the most common mistakes - see the leaving the UK tax residency guide.

If you left or arrived in the UK part-way through a tax year and were UK resident for that year, you need to:

Work through each of the 8 cases to determine whether any apply to you
Identify your split year date
Report split year treatment on your Self Assessment tax return
Keep records of the dates you were present in each country and any work done in the UK during the overseas part

Because split year treatment interacts with the automatic overseas tests, the sufficient ties test, and double taxation treaty positions, it can become complex quickly. Start by confirming whether you are UK resident for the year - the free calculator below will run you through the full SRT - and then consider professional advice on the split year question.