🔍 Insights and Trends
🕐 24 April, 2026
An Expat's Guide To UK Tax Residence & Risks
Habibi, welcome back home from Dubai!
You are an expat, entrepreneur or employee, and you've now temporarily moved back to the UK.
However, you are already thinking of leaving the UK in the near future to protect your global earnings and wealth from UK Income, Capital Gains and Inheritance tax; this guide is for you.
Problem: Entrepreneurs living in the UAE with UK ties
Law: UK's Statutory Residence Test (SRT) applies, your UAE 0% tax status is at risk:
Definition
UK Day Count = "UK day" means you're here at midnight. Non-UK day = Transit or medical emergencies or up to 60 days spent in the UK due to an emergency/crisis.
Sufficient Ties Test (STT)
Depending on the number of ties (between 1-5), such as having a home, family, workdays, historic tax residence and spending>90 days in the UK; defines the Day Count limit for maintaining your non-residence status. Fewer ties = more days that you can spend in the UK tax year without becoming a UK tax resident.
If you are an entrepreneur, this means you have between 16 and 183 days that you can spend in the UK between 6th April 2026 and 5th April 2027.
Solution
Resident Tax App enables you to securely count your UK days, historic UK days and plan your future travel to the UK.
A simple tool to manage your days, tax law-defined thresholds to avoid becoming a UK tax resident.
📸 Calculate UK Days and Tax Residence Status in the last 5 years using Flashback
🗓️ Plan your upcoming travel and UK days to avoid becoming a UK tax resident using Planner
Worst Case Tax Scenario:
If you have breached the UK tax-residence threshold in 2025/26 or are likely to exceed your day count limit in 2026/27, then you will be taxed on global earnings and gains
| Basis | Scope | What's included | Top Rate of Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Income tax | UK and worldwide earnings | Salaries, dividends, rental income, business profits — everything | 45% |
| Capital Gains tax | UK and worldwide assets disposal | Property, Shares, Bonds, Cryptos | 24% |
| Inheritance tax | UK and worldwide assets on inheritance | Property, Investments, Assets | 40% |
Resident tax is developing a "Risk Radar", a Capital Gains and Inheritance tax (IHT) historical tax residence tracking tool, that will enable users to determine their tax residence status in each of the last 20 tax years.
⚠️ Capital Gains Risk Alert
If you've been a UK non-resident and sold foreign assets, but crossed the tax residence threshold in 2025/26 or 2026/27 tax years, then your asset sales in the last 5 years, 2020/21 and 2021/22, would be subject to UK capital gains tax.
⚠️ IHT Risk Alert
If you've spent the last 10 out of the 20 years as a tax resident, then global assets, even those that you've inherited, are subject to IHT in the UK.
Alternatively, if you inadvertently become a UK tax resident in 2025/26 or 2026/27 tax years (when 60 exceptional days have passed in June 2026 and you're still in the UK), an IHT tail gets triggered, resetting the clock and bringing you back in scope of IHT in the UK. This new feature, "Risk Radar", will help you calculate the number of years (3-10) you need to stay out of the UK to regain your UK IHT tax-exempt status on worldwide assets.
✈️ Split-Year Treatment (For Those Who Worked in the UAE)
Problem: Corporate executives employed in the UAE who have come back to the UK
Your UAE 0% tax status is at risk: UK applies Full Time Working Abroad rules
UK Day Count
"UK day" means you're here at midnight.
Non-UK day
Transit or medical emergencies or up to 60 days spent in the UK due to an emergency/crisis.
Sufficient Ties Test (STT)
Depending on the date you've left the UK, you can spend <91 UK days, and work ≤31 days in the UK
Solution
Resident Tax App enables you to securely count your UK Workdays and non-working days. Depending on the date you've left the UK, it can calculate your threshold and help apply split-year tax treatment from the date you became a tax resident.
📱 Remember the Resident Tax App Helps You Stay Compliant (and Calm)
You've got enough on your plate rebuilding your family life and business. That's why the Resident Tax app is built to make day-counting and tax planning actually manageable.
⭐SRT Dashboard
- Tracks travel days in real time
- Shows how many days you can still spend in the UK before triggering residency
- App Generates HMRC Audit Grade Info (Workdays, Exceptional Days, Third Country Days, Travel Evidence)
🧭Travel Planner
- Lets you simulate future trips
- Predicts your UK residency status for 2025/26 and 2026/27
- Warns you when a trip risks breaching day limits
🤖AI Auto-Pilot & Donut (New Features Under Development)
- Provides indicative UK tax calculations based on your residency scenario
- Helps plan optimal dates for returning, leaving, selling assets, or receiving dividends
- AI Agents that extracts tax info, complete your tax return and on approval by the accountant, submits Self-Assessment tax return to HMRC and eventually IRS.
👨💼Expert Human Advice
- Connect with Resident-approved UK and global tax advisers for tailored professional advice
- Our app has already done the heavy lifting (data gathering, estimating tax residence status, estimating tax liability) – so that accountants and lawyers focus on the complex value-added work, saving them time and you $$$ of advisory fees.
🎉 Final Thoughts
The Resident Tax app gives you the clarity, control and expert support you need to navigate your new life as a global citizen in the UK / UAE / Spain / Italy / Portugal / Singapore / USA / Puerto Rico.
Nikhil Chouguley, FCCA, Founder, Resident Tax.
About the author
Over his 20+ years' career in financial services, Nikhil has served as the Global Chief Operating Officer at Citibank and held senior roles at Deutsche Bank, the Financial Conduct Authority, and Barclays Wealth in London.
A Fellow of the Chartered Certified Accountants, Nikhil served on the Board of TURN (Blockchain) and the General Body of Woodstock School. He also guest lectures at Bath University and EM Lyon on Sustainable Finance.