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Driftly

Before you go

Leaving your home tax system

The slowest item on the departure checklist and the one most people discover far too late. Start it around 90 days out.

Back to the countdown

This describes processes and the documents they produce. It is not advice, and it cannot tell you whether you have ceased to be tax resident — that depends on facts specific to you and is determined by the tax authority. Speak to an adviser in your home country before relying on any of it.

Your home country

United Kingdom

Form P85 and the Statutory Residence Test

There is no deregistration in the UK. Residence is decided each tax year by the Statutory Residence Test, which counts days alongside ties such as accommodation, family and work. Filing a P85 tells HMRC you have left and starts the record.

What the process involves

  1. 1File form P85 after your last day of UK employment or once you have left, unless you already file a Self Assessment return.
  2. 2Work through the Statutory Residence Test for the year of departure, including the automatic overseas tests and the sufficient-ties test.
  3. 3Consider whether split-year treatment applies, which can divide the tax year into a UK part and an overseas part.
  4. 4Keep day counts and travel evidence for the whole year — the test is arithmetic on dates before it is anything else.

What it produces

The filed P85, HMRC's response, and your own day-count record for the tax year.

Store it in the document vault — you will be asked for it years later, usually by someone in another country.

Timing

UK tax year runs 6 April to 5 April. Departure timing relative to that date changes the calculation.

What people get wrong

Keeping a home available in the UK, or returning for more days than you expect, are the two ties that most often keep people resident.

Countries not covered yet

France, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, New Zealand, South Africa, India and Brazil are not covered yet. The process in each differs enough that a summary written from the outside would be misleading.

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Informational only. Not legal or tax advice. Verify with the relevant authority before travelling.