Guide
What counts as a day in the UK for tax?
For the UK Statutory Residence Test, a day counts if you are in the UK at the end of it: at midnight. Everything else follows from that.
Examples
| What you did | UK days |
|---|---|
| Arrive Friday evening, leave Monday morning | 3: Friday, Saturday and Sunday (you were in the UK at midnight on each) |
| Fly in and out on the same day | 0 (but see the deeming rule) |
| Arrive 11pm, leave at 6am the next day for a connecting flight, doing nothing else | 0: a transit day |
| Stay from 6 April to 5 April without leaving | 365 (366 when the tax year holds 29 February) |
The three exceptions
Transit days
A day doesn't count if you arrive in the UK as a passenger on your way somewhere else, leave the next day, and in between do nothing substantially unrelated to the journey. Meeting a business contact or visiting family turns it back into a UK day.
Exceptional circumstances
Up to 60 days a tax year don't count if exceptional circumstances beyond your control keep you in the UK, such as your own or a close family member's sudden serious illness, or a travel ban. You must intend to leave and do so as soon as you can.
The deeming rule
If you have at least three UK ties and were UK resident in at least one of the previous three tax years, days when you were in the UK at some point but not at midnight start to count once there are more than 30 of them in the tax year. Each such day after the thirtieth counts as a UK day.
Where the rule comes from
HMRC's guidance on the Statutory Residence Test, RDR3, sets out the rule, the exceptions and examples. The day count is one part of the test: see the guide to the Statutory Residence Test for how days combine with your ties.
Count your days
The UK tax year day counter applies the midnight rule to your stays and splits them by tax year.