The Statutory Residence Test Framework
Written and reviewed by the Non-Dom Accountants editorial team. Last reviewed 28 July 2026.
The Statutory Residence Test decides whether a person is UK resident for a tax year. It underpins almost everything else, because residence, not domicile, now governs how income, gains and estates are taxed. The reform did not touch it.
This guide explains the three parts of the test and the 183-day rule at its centre. Residence history under this test is what decides access to the 4-year FIG regime, and applying it to a first UK year is part of our work on arriving in the UK.
A Test Left Unchanged by the Reform
The Statutory Residence Test was introduced by Finance Act 2013 and is set out in Schedule 45. The 2025 abolition of the remittance basis did not alter it. The test that decided residence before the reform is the same one that decides it now, taxed instead on the arising basis once residence is established.
This matters because the whole new system leans on residence. Getting the residence position right is the first step, not a detail.
The Automatic Overseas Tests
The test is worked in order. The automatic overseas tests come first, and meeting any one of them makes a person non-resident for the year regardless of anything else. They cover, for example, very low day counts and full-time work abroad.
If none of the automatic overseas tests is met, you move on to the automatic UK tests.
The Automatic UK Tests and the 183 Days
The automatic UK tests can make a person resident on their own. The first automatic UK test is spending 183 days or more in the UK in the tax year, which on its own establishes residence. Others cover having a UK home and full-time work in the UK.
The 183-day figure is the single most quoted number in the test, but it is only one route in. A person under 183 days can still be resident through the ties test.
The Sufficient Ties Test
Where neither set of automatic tests settles the position, the sufficient ties test applies. It weighs connections to the UK, such as family, available accommodation, work and time spent here, against the number of days present. The more ties a person has, the fewer days it takes to become resident.
The ties test is where most borderline cases are decided, and it is the part where careful day counting and record-keeping earn their place.
Counting Days and Keeping Records
Day counting has its own rules, including the treatment of days of arrival and departure and limited allowance for exceptional circumstances. HMRC's guidance note on the Statutory Residence Test sets out how days are counted and how the ties are defined.
Because residence now drives the basis of assessment, contemporaneous travel records are worth keeping through the year rather than reconstructing them at filing time.