Split year tax treatment lets you divide a single UK tax year into two parts so that worldwide income is only taxed during the months you actually lived in the UK. The tax year runs 6 April to 5 April, and without this relief anyone who counts as UK resident under the Statutory Residence Test owes UK tax on global income for the full twelve months, even if they only spent a few weeks on British soil. The qualifying rules sit in Schedule 45 of the Finance Act 2013, which sets out eight scenarios covering departures from and arrivals to the UK.1Legislation.gov.uk. Finance Act 2013 – Schedule 45
How the Split Works
The default UK rule is all-or-nothing. If you are resident for a tax year, you are resident for the whole of it, and every pound of worldwide income falls within the UK charge. Split year treatment is the exception. When it applies, the year breaks into a UK part, where worldwide income is taxable, and an overseas part, where only UK-source income is taxable. During the overseas part you are effectively treated as non-resident.1Legislation.gov.uk. Finance Act 2013 – Schedule 45
The treatment is not automatic. You must meet the conditions of one of the eight cases in the legislation, and you must claim it on your tax return. If none of the cases applies, the full-year residence rule stands and you owe UK tax on everything you earned globally that year.
The Eight Cases
HMRC groups the eight cases into two sets: three for people leaving the UK partway through the year, and five for people arriving.2GOV.UK. RFIG21030 – Statutory Residence Test (SRT): Split Year Treatment: When Split Year Treatment Will Apply Only one case needs to fit.
Cases 1 to 3: Leaving the UK
Case 1 covers starting full-time work overseas. You need to meet the sufficient hours overseas test, which averages at least 35 hours a week, and you must be non-resident for the following tax year. The split date is the first day you work more than three hours in your overseas role.3Legislation.gov.uk. Finance Act 2013 – Schedule 45 – Statutory Residence Test – Case 1: Starting Full-Time Work Overseas
Case 2 covers the partner of someone working overseas. Your spouse or civil partner has moved abroad to work, you leave the UK to join them, and you must be non-resident for the next tax year.
Case 3 covers ceasing to have a UK home. You give up all UK homes during the tax year and do not acquire another one before it ends. After losing your last UK home, you must spend fewer than 16 days in the UK and establish residence in another country within six months.4GOV.UK. RFIG21130 – Statutory Residence Test (SRT): Split Year Treatment: Case 3
Cases 4 to 8: Arriving in the UK
Case 4 covers starting to have a UK home. You were non-resident in the previous year and acquire a home in the UK during the tax year, subject to day-count limits for the period before acquisition.
Case 5 covers starting full-time work in the UK. The 35-hour weekly average applies, calculated using the statutory formula that divides net UK working hours by the number of weeks in the reference period.1Legislation.gov.uk. Finance Act 2013 – Schedule 45
Case 6 covers ceasing full-time work overseas. You were working full-time abroad and stop that employment to come back to the UK.
Case 7 covers acquiring a UK home after living abroad with no UK home during the earlier part of the year.
Case 8 covers the partner of someone starting UK work. Your spouse or civil partner moves to the UK to begin full-time employment and you join them.
Every case turns on a genuine, demonstrable change in your living or working circumstances. HMRC will not grant split year treatment to someone who spends a few months elsewhere without shifting the shape of their life. Employment contracts, property transactions, or the physical relocation of your household are the sorts of facts that carry weight.
Pinpointing Your Split Date
The date on which the year divides depends on the case you fall under, and it determines which income sits in the UK part and which sits in the overseas part.
For Case 1, the overseas part begins on the first day you work more than three hours in your new foreign job.5GOV.UK. RFIG21080 – Statutory Residence Test (SRT): Split Year Treatment
For Case 3, the split falls on the day after you cease to have any home in the UK, assuming you then meet the 16-day and overseas residence conditions for the remainder of the year.4GOV.UK. RFIG21130 – Statutory Residence Test (SRT): Split Year Treatment: Case 3
For arrival cases, the date usually coincides with when you first have a UK home (Cases 4 and 7) or when you start full-time UK employment (Case 5). In partner cases (Cases 2 and 8), the date ties to when you join your spouse or civil partner in the new country. These dates are not negotiable; they follow from your physical movements and contractual commitments, and HMRC will want evidence for the exact day.
How Income Is Taxed in Each Part
The point of split year treatment is that income arising in the overseas part is generally outside the UK tax net. Different income types carry different qualifications.
Employment income earned during the overseas part is excluded from UK tax, unless it relates to duties actually performed in the UK during that period. Work remotely from France, then fly to London for a client meeting, and the earnings attributable to that London day remain UK-taxable. The legislation requires a just and reasonable apportionment between the two parts of the year.1Legislation.gov.uk. Finance Act 2013 – Schedule 45
Trading income follows the same shape. Because you are treated as non-resident during the overseas part, overseas trading profits fall outside the UK charge, while self-employed income from a UK-based trade remains taxable throughout.
Overseas property income arising during the overseas part is not chargeable to UK tax. UK rental income stays taxable across the whole year. Moving to Singapore does not take your London flat outside the UK charge.1Legislation.gov.uk. Finance Act 2013 – Schedule 45
The pattern is consistent. UK-source income stays taxable regardless; foreign-source income gets relief during the overseas part. Savings and investment income from overseas sources follows the same logic.
Capital Gains During a Split Year
Capital gains work differently from most people’s expectations. During the overseas part, you are generally not chargeable to UK capital gains tax on disposals, which can matter if you are timing the sale of assets around a move.6GOV.UK. CG10978 – Split Year Treatment for Years From 2013-14
Several carve-outs matter. Gains on UK residential property remain chargeable even during the overseas part, as do gains on any direct or indirect disposal of UK real property. The temporary non-residence rules can also catch you: if you leave the UK, sell assets during a brief period abroad, and return within five years, HMRC can tax those gains as if you never left. Gains attributed to you from offshore trusts are treated as falling within the UK part of a split year regardless of when they arise.6GOV.UK. CG10978 – Split Year Treatment for Years From 2013-14
Non-Doms and the End of the Remittance Basis
Before April 2025, non-domiciled UK residents could claim the remittance basis to shelter foreign income from UK tax, including during a split year. That option no longer exists. From 6 April 2025, it is not possible to use the remittance basis of taxation.7GOV.UK. RDRM32240 – Accessing the Remittance Basis: Long Term UK Residents
The remittance basis previously added a layer of protection for foreign income during the UK part of a split year. With the switch to the new Foreign Income and Gains (FIG) regime, the interaction between split year treatment and non-domicile status has changed. If you are claiming split year treatment for a tax year starting on or after 6 April 2025, work from the FIG rules rather than older remittance basis guidance.
Documentation You Need
HMRC will not take your word for it. Every element of a split year claim needs documentary support, and the time to assemble that evidence is while events are happening.
- Travel records: boarding passes, passport stamps, flight itineraries, and hotel receipts establishing which days you were in the UK. HMRC counts days of physical presence, so precision matters.
- Employment evidence: contracts showing your start date, work location, and hours, plus payslips or timesheets demonstrating the 35-hour weekly average for full-time work cases. A letter from your employer confirming an overseas posting can strengthen the claim.
- Property records: completion statements from house sales, tenancy agreements, or utility disconnection confirmations proving when you ceased having a UK home. For arrival cases, the equivalent evidence of when you acquired a UK home.
- Foreign residence proof: overseas tenancy agreements, utility bills at your foreign address, or a tax residency certificate from the new country. This is particularly important for Case 3, which requires you to establish residence abroad within six months.
Keep originals and digital copies. If HMRC opens an enquiry, the burden is on you to prove the conditions were met. Gaps in the records are gaps in the defence.
Filing on Form SA109
Split year treatment is claimed through Form SA109, the residence supplementary pages of the Self Assessment return.8GOV.UK. Residence and Foreign Income and Gains (FIG) Regime etc (Self Assessment SA109) You cannot file SA109 through HMRC’s free online service. Either you use commercial software from an HMRC-approved supplier, or you file a paper return.9GOV.UK. SA109 Notes 2024-25
On the 2024–25 form, Box 3 is where you confirm your circumstances meet the split year criteria, and Box 6 is where you enter the date the UK part of the year begins or ends. Your total days spent in the UK go in Box 10. If your domicile is outside the UK and relevant to your liability, that is declared at Box 23, not Box 1 as some older guides suggest.9GOV.UK. SA109 Notes 2024-25 Box numbers can shift when HMRC updates the form, particularly following the FIG regime changes, so work from the current year’s SA109 notes.
Deadlines and Penalties
The filing deadline depends on how you submit. Paper returns must reach HMRC by 31 October following the end of the tax year. Online returns filed through commercial software have until 31 January.10GOV.UK. Self Assessment Tax Returns: Deadlines Because SA109 cannot go through HMRC’s own portal, you are either hitting the October paper deadline or buying commercial software to reach the January one.
Late filing triggers an initial £100 penalty, followed by daily penalties of £10 per day after three months up to £900, then further charges of 5% of the tax due or £300 (whichever is greater) at six months and again at twelve months.11GOV.UK. Self Assessment Tax Returns: Penalties For a claim that might save you thousands in tax, missing a deadline because approved software was not lined up in time is an expensive mistake.