Country guideTax residency
Tax residency in the United Kingdom: how the day count works
In the UK, 183 days of presence in a tax year, which runs from 6 April to 5 April, makes you automatically resident with no exceptions. Below 183 days the Statutory Residence Test takes over, weighing your ties to the UK against day bands that can make you resident from as few as 16 days.
What is the day threshold in the UK?
The UK replaced vague case law with the Statutory Residence Test in 2013, documented in HMRC's RDR3 guidance. One number is unconditional: 183 days or more in a UK tax year makes you resident, full stop. Everything below 183 is conditional, decided by a cascade of tests: first the automatic overseas tests that can make you non-resident, then the automatic UK tests, then the sufficient-ties test that weighs your connections against your day count.
The honest summary is that the UK does not have one threshold, it has a sliding scale. The same 100 days can leave one person comfortably non-resident and make another resident, depending entirely on ties and history.
| Day threshold | 183 days is automatic; ties can lower the line to 121, 91, 46 or 16 days |
|---|---|
| Counting window | UK tax year, 6 April to 5 April |
| Partial days | Counted by midnights: a day counts if you are in the UK at midnight |
| Other triggers | Only home in the UK, full-time UK work, and the sufficient-ties test |
| Source | GOV.UK RDR3 |
Calendar year or rolling window?
Neither: the UK counts over its own tax year, 6 April to 5 April. That offset catches people who plan around 31 December. A stay from October to May sits inside a single UK tax year even though it straddles the calendar year-end. Residency is normally all-or-nothing for the tax year, though split-year treatment can divide a year into resident and non-resident parts in defined arrival and departure cases.
Do partial days count?
The UK uses a midnight rule, unusual among major systems: a day counts if you are in the UK at the end of the day. Arrive on Monday and leave on Friday and you have four UK days, not five, because Friday has no UK midnight. Transit days can be ignored if you do nothing unrelated to travel between arrival and departure. There is also a deeming rule aimed at commuters: recent UK residents with three or more ties who clock up more than 30 departure-day visits start having those midnight-free days counted after the 30th.
What else can make you resident besides days?
Two automatic UK tests need no 183 days: having your only home in the UK, and working full time in the UK. Then comes the sufficient-ties test, which counts five ties: a spouse or minor children in the UK, available accommodation, 40 or more days of UK work, more than 90 days spent in the UK in either of the two prior tax years, and, for recent leavers, the UK being your top country by days. For someone UK resident in one of the previous three years, four ties mean residency from 16 days, three ties from 46, two from 91, one from 121. Arrivers with no recent UK history get slightly kinder bands starting at 46 days with four ties.
A worked example with 2026 dates
Resident on 50 nights
A recent leaver, UK resident until 2024-25, keeps a London flat and has a spouse in the UK, and spent 95 days there in 2025-26. In the 2026-27 tax year he visits from 10 June to 30 July 2026, staying 50 midnights, and thinks he is safe by a wide margin.
| Tie | Held? |
|---|---|
| Family in the UK | Yes, spouse |
| Available accommodation | Yes, London flat |
| 90-day tie (prior years) | Yes, 95 days in 2025-26 |
| Days needed with 3 ties (leaver) | 46 or more makes him resident |
With three ties as a recent leaver, his band is 46 to 90 days, and 50 midnights puts him inside it. He is UK resident for 2026-27 on 50 days. Cutting the visit to 45 midnights, or losing a tie by letting the flat go, would have kept him non-resident.
How do I track my days for the UK?
Count midnights per UK tax year, 6 April to 5 April, and track your ties with the same care as your days, because they set which band applies to you. HMRC expects records; reconstructing two years of visits from memory is how people end up in the wrong band.
Run the Statutory Residence Test
A raw day count is only the start. The free Statutory Residence Test calculator takes your UK days and ties, tells you which rule decides your residence, and shows the day or tie that would change it.
Midnights and margins, logged
Staydays records where each day ends automatically, giving you the per-year history the Statutory Residence Test bands depend on.
Frequently asked questions
Does 183 days automatically make me UK resident?
Yes. Spending 183 days or more in the UK in a tax year meets the first automatic UK test, and no other part of the Statutory Residence Test can undo it. It is the one unconditional line in the whole system.
How are days counted in the UK?
By midnights. A day counts if you are in the UK at the end of the day, so arrival days usually count and departure days usually do not. A deeming rule can add certain departure days back for people with three or more ties who were UK resident recently and make more than 30 midnight-free visits.
Can I be UK resident with far fewer than 183 days?
Yes. Under the sufficient-ties test, someone who was UK resident in a recent year and holds four ties becomes resident again from just 16 days. The more ties you keep, the lower your safe day count, down to bands of 16, 46, 91 and 121 days.
What is the UK tax year?
6 April to 5 April. All Statutory Residence Test day counts run over that year, not the calendar year, so planning around 31 December is planning around the wrong date.
This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and individual circumstances differ. Confirm details with official sources or a qualified advisor.
Last updated: 2026-07-14