Solutions · UK Leavers
You’ve left the UK. HMRC is still counting.
Family visits, a summer back, Christmas at home. Your ties to the UK decide how many of those days you can have, and for most people who’ve left the answer isn’t 183.
Leaving doesn’t end the count
Leaving the UK doesn’t end the UK’s interest in you. Each tax year, from 6 April to 5 April, HMRC’s Statutory Residence Test looks at how many midnights you spent in the UK and what still ties you to it: family here, a home you can use, work, time spent here in earlier years. If the test makes you resident, the UK can tax your income from anywhere, not just from the UK.
The limit isn’t one number. If you were UK resident in any of the last three tax years, it can be as low as 16 days.
What counts as a day
A day in the UK is a day you’re here at midnight. A separate rule can count extra days if you’re here often without staying the night: it applies if you were UK resident in any of the last three tax years, have 3 or more ties, and pass 30 such days.
The automatic tests
If you were resident in any of the last three tax years, fewer than 16 days in the UK makes you non-resident; if you weren’t, fewer than 46. 183 days or more makes you resident. There are also tests for full-time work abroad, full-time work in the UK, and having your only home here.
The year you leave
In the year you leave or arrive, split-year treatment can divide the tax year into a UK part and an overseas part. There are eight cases, each with its own conditions and dates.
Sufficient ties
Between the automatic lines, your ties decide it. There are five: family, accommodation, work, the 90-day tie, and, for leavers only, the country tie.
| UK days in the tax year | UK resident in any of the last 3 years: resident with | Not UK resident in any of them: resident with |
|---|---|---|
| 16–45 | 4 ties or more | Never (always non-resident) |
| 46–90 | 3 ties or more | All 4 ties |
| 91–120 | 2 ties or more | 3 ties or more |
| 121–182 | 1 tie or more | 2 ties or more |
| 183 or more | Always resident | Always resident |
Check your days and ties
One tax year, answered in a minute. Nothing you enter is stored: your answers stay in this page, and in the one email if you ask for it.
What this checker leaves out.
It runs the sufficient-ties test and the two day-count automatic tests for one tax year. It doesn’t run the full-time work tests, the UK-home test, the deeming rule, exceptional-circumstance and transit days, and split-year treatment. Midnights runs all of these, including all 8 split-year cases.
For a one-off answer from HMRC itself, there is HMRC’s own residence checker.
Answer the questions to see your limit and how many days you have to spare.
What’s at stake
For example: suppose you’ve moved to the UAE, which has no personal income tax, and you earn £60,000. If too many UK days made you UK resident, the UK could tax that salary too. At 2026/27 rates for England, Wales and Northern Ireland that is £11,432 of income tax, before National Insurance, split-year treatment or any tax treaty, each of which can change it. Where you’ve paid tax abroad, relief usually reduces the UK bill; this example is the one where there’s nothing to reduce it.
If a return turns out to be wrong because of carelessness, HMRC can add a penalty of up to 30% of the tax, and can look back six years.
The time cost is quieter: re-answering the tie questions and re-counting midnights from boarding passes before every trip home, then again at year end when your accountant asks for the dates.
Illustration only; your own figures will differ. Sources: HMRC income tax rates 2026/27; PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries, UAE; HMRC factsheet CC/FS7a; HMRC Compliance Handbook CH50100.
What Midnights shows you
Where you stand this tax year
Your UK status and your UK day count, counted at midnight from the trips you log. Free.
The full test, worked through
The automatic tests, your ties, the deeming rule and split-year treatment across all 8 cases, cited to HMRC’s manual.
Warnings before the line
Local alerts at 10, 5 and 3 days left, and trips checked before you book them. Pro.
UK work days and a report
Work days recorded day by day, and a PDF for your accountant cited to its sources. Pro.
What it won’t tell you
- Your domicile or inheritance tax position.
- Your new country’s tax rules beyond a day count, unless it’s the US or a Schengen state.
- Whether a double taxation agreement changes the answer.
- Tax or legal advice. Take what it shows you to an adviser before you act on it.
Questions
Is 183 days the limit?
Only for the automatic test. With ties, the limit can be 16, 46, 91 or 121 days, depending on your ties and whether you were UK resident in any of the last three tax years.
Does staying with my parents count as a tie?
It can. A close relative’s home counts as accommodation if you spend 16 nights or more there in the tax year. HMRC’s RDR3 guidance has the full definition.
Does this cover the year I left?
Not this checker: split-year treatment needs dated facts. The Midnights app covers all 8 split-year cases.
Is anything I enter saved?
No. Your answers stay in this page. If you email yourself the summary, we use your address once to send it and don’t keep it unless you tick the updates box.
Is this tax advice?
No. It’s informational. Confirm your position with a qualified adviser before you act.
Keep the count all year, not just before this trip.
Where you stand is free. Pro is £39.99 a year or £4.99 a month (US: $39.99 / $4.99; other regions see their local price in the App Store), after a 14-day free trial for new subscribers, and renews until you cancel in your App Store account.
iOS now, Android in progress.