Tax residence in the United Kingdom for Indian taxpayers

The UK decides residence under the Statutory Residence Test for its own tax year (6 April – 5 April): automatic tests first, then UK ties combined with UK days. India counts days over 1 April – 31 March, so both countries can claim you in the same period. Art. 4(2) of the India–UK Convention then decides, and Art. 24 relieves double tax by credit.

Check your status: India and United Kingdom

Free, no sign-up, about 3 minutes. Conclusion under Indian income-tax law, compared with the law of the United Kingdom and the tax treaty.

When United Kingdom treats you as a tax resident

The UK determines residence under its own Statutory Residence Test (SRT) and for its own tax year — 6 April to 5 April — not the Indian tax year (1 April – 31 March).

You spent 183 days or more in the UK in the UK tax year — you are automatically UK resident.
Your only home is in the UK (no home abroad, including in India, where you spent 30+ days) — under the home test you are UK resident.
Full-time work in the UK for a 365-day period — you are UK resident.
Your UK days combined with your UK ties reach the sufficient ties threshold — you are UK resident even with fewer than 183 days.

When you are a nonresident

You spent fewer days in the UK than any UK test requires (16 or 46) — you are automatically not UK resident.
Full-time work abroad and fewer than 91 days in the UK — under the automatic overseas test you are not UK resident.
Under the sufficient ties test you have too few UK ties for your number of days — you are not UK resident.

Where the rules of the United Kingdom clash with Indian tax rules

Collision: the UK treats you as resident with fewer than 183 days. You are resident in India (182 days, or 60 days plus 365 days in the four preceding years), and the SRT makes you UK resident with fewer than 183 UK days — through the home test, full-time work in the UK or the sufficient ties test. Both laws then claim you. Art. 4(2) of the India–UK Convention decides: permanent home; with a home in both countries, the centre of vital interests; if that cannot be determined, or you have a permanent home in neither, habitual abode; then nationality; then mutual agreement.
Collision: 183 days in the UK while still resident in India. 183 days in the UK tax year make you automatically UK resident. Because the two tax years cover different months, you can at the same time be resident in India — for example under the 60-day test with 365 days in India in the four preceding years. Art. 4(2) of the Convention then decides which country is your state of residence.
Collision: after moving back to India the UK may still treat you as resident. If you were UK resident in any of the three previous UK tax years, 16 days and 4 ties (or 46 days and 3 ties) are enough to remain UK resident. If you are also resident in India for the same period, Art. 4(2) of the Convention decides; a home kept in the UK weighs in the first step.

What else to know

Different tax years: 1 April in India, 6 April in the UK. India's tax year runs from 1 April to 31 March; the UK tax year from 6 April to 5 April. Each country counts your days over its own year: the Indian 182-day and 60-day tests count days in India in the Indian tax year, the SRT counts days in the UK in the UK tax year. The 183-day test for salary in Art. 16(2)(a) of the treaty counts days «during the relevant fiscal year» — for UK tax that is the UK tax year (Art. 3(1)(d)).
How India relieves double taxation of UK income. If India is your state of residence, you report UK income in your Indian return and claim credit for the UK tax: under Art. 24(2) the credit is limited to the proportion of Indian tax that the UK income bears to your entire income chargeable to Indian tax. Claim it with Form No. 44 (rule 76 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026). If the UK is your state of residence, the UK credits Indian tax on Indian-source income against UK tax on the same income (Art. 24(1)).
Working in the UK while resident in India: the 183-day rule (Art. 16(2)). Salary is taxed where you physically work. If India is your treaty residence, the UK does not tax pay for UK work only if all three conditions are met: you are in the UK for not more than 183 days in aggregate during the relevant fiscal year (for UK tax, 6 April – 5 April); the employer is not resident in the UK; and the pay is not deductible in computing the profits of an enterprise chargeable to UK tax (for example a UK branch). Otherwise the UK taxes the pay for UK work days and India gives credit under Art. 24(2).
Year of arrival or departure: the UK may split its year, India does not. Under specific conditions (moving your home, starting or ending full-time work) the UK tax year is split and you are taxed as a non-resident for the overseas part. India has no split year: your status is decided for the whole Indian tax year (1 April – 31 March). Where both countries treat you as resident for part of a year, the treaty applies to that period.
FIG regime for new UK residents. If you were not UK resident for at least 10 years before arriving, you can claim the FIG regime for up to the first 4 tax years of UK residence: qualifying foreign income and gains — including Indian rent, interest and gains — are not taxed in the UK, but you lose the income tax and CGT tax-free allowances, and foreign employment income is not covered. India still taxes Indian-source income under its own rules; with no UK tax on that income, there is nothing to credit.
Social security: UK–India Double Contributions Convention (from 15 July 2026). A UK–India social security agreement on contributions was signed on 10 February 2026 and entered into force on 15 July 2026. It deals with contributions only (not pensions) and does not apply to the self-employed. HMRC's manual states that its detached-worker provision is 60 months, so an employee posted for a limited period can stay in the home system instead of paying both Indian and UK contributions. Ask your employer or EPFO about the certificate before the posting starts.

How dual residence is resolved

If both countries treat you as a resident, Art. 4(2) of the treaty applies: Convention between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and capital gains (signed at New Delhi on 25 January 1993; amended by the Protocol signed at London on 30 October 2012). The tests are applied in order — permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, nationality, and finally mutual agreement between the tax authorities.

Terms you will come across in the United Kingdom

Statutory Residence Test (SRT): the UK statutory test of tax residence: automatic overseas and UK tests, then sufficient ties
UK tax year: 6 April to 5 April — different from the Indian tax year (1 April – 31 March)
UK ties: family, accommodation, work, 90-day and country ties counted under the sufficient ties test
split year treatment: the UK tax year split into a UK part and an overseas part in the year of arrival or departure
FIG regime: 4-year relief for foreign income and gains of new UK residents after 10 years abroad (from 6 April 2025)
National Insurance: UK social security contributions; covered by the UK–India Double Contributions Convention from 15 July 2026

Questions

I spent fewer than 183 days in the UK — can I still be UK resident?

Yes. Under the SRT the home test, full-time work in the UK or enough UK ties combined with your UK days can make you resident with fewer than 183 days. If India also treats you as resident, Art. 4(2) of the India–UK Convention decides.

Does the UK tax my salary for a short UK assignment if I remain resident in India?

Not if all conditions of Art. 16(2) are met: not more than 183 days in the UK during the relevant fiscal year (for UK tax, 6 April – 5 April), an employer not resident in the UK, and pay not deductible in computing the profits of an enterprise taxable in the UK.

How does India avoid double taxation of UK income?

If India is your state of residence, it credits the UK tax against Indian tax on that income, up to the proportion of Indian tax attributable to it (Art. 24(2)); you claim the credit with Form No. 44.

Sources

Legislation and official guidance

Finance Act 2013, Sch. 45 (Statutory Residence Test) — You are UK resident if you meet at least one automatic UK test and none of the automatic overseas tests, or if you meet the sufficient ties test. The automatic overseas tests take priority.
Income Tax Act 2007, s. 4(3) — The UK tax year runs from 6 April to the following 5 April.
HMRC RDR3 — Statutory Residence Test guidance — HMRC's official guidance on the Statutory Residence Test.
Sch. 45, paras 12–14 — Automatically non-resident: fewer than 16 days in the UK (if UK resident in any of the 3 previous tax years), fewer than 46 days (if not), or full-time work abroad with fewer than 91 days in the UK and fewer than 31 UK work days.
Sch. 45, paras 22–23 — A day counts if you are in the UK at midnight; transit days do not count; up to 60 days spent in the UK because of exceptional circumstances (war, natural disaster) can be disregarded.
Sch. 45, para 7 — Automatically UK resident: at least 183 days in the UK in the tax year.
Sch. 45, paras 8, 25 — Home test: a UK home where you spent at least 30 days, and no overseas home where you spent at least 30 days (assessed within a 91-day period).
Sch. 45, para 9 — Full-time work in the UK for a 365-day period: on average at least 35 hours a week, with more than 75% of working days in the UK.
Sch. 45, paras 17–19, 31–38 — Sufficient ties test: arrivers — 46–90 days and 4 ties, 91–120 days and ≥3, ≥121 days and ≥2; leavers (UK resident in 1 of the 3 previous years) — 16–45 days and ≥4, 46–90 and ≥3, 91–120 and ≥2, ≥121 and ≥1. Ties: family, accommodation, work, 90-day, country.
Income-tax Act, 2025, s. 6(1)–(2) — Residential status is determined for each tax year. An individual is resident in India in a tax year if in India for 182 days or more in that year, or for 60 days or more in that year and 365 days or more in the four years preceding it.
Art. 16(2) India–UK Convention; Art. 3(1)(d) («fiscal year») — Pay of a resident of one State for employment exercised in the other State is taxable only in the State of residence if (a) the employee is present in the other State for a period or periods not exceeding in the aggregate 183 days during the relevant fiscal year, (b) the pay is paid by, or on behalf of, an employer who is not resident of that other State, and (c) it is not deductible in computing the profits of an enterprise chargeable to tax in that other State. «Fiscal year»: for Indian tax, the «previous year»; for UK tax, the year from 6 April to 5 April.
Art. 4(2) India–UK Convention (1993) — Dual-resident individual: (a) resident of the State in which he has a permanent home available to him; if he has a permanent home in both States, of the State with which his personal and economic relations are closer (centre of vital interests); (b) if the centre of vital interests cannot be determined, or if he has not a permanent home available to him in either State, of the State in which he has an habitual abode; (c) habitual abode in both States or in neither — the State of which he is a national; (d) national of both or neither — the competent authorities settle the question by mutual agreement.
Art. 24(1)–(2) India–UK Convention — United Kingdom: subject to UK law, Indian tax payable on profits, income or gains from sources in India is allowed as a credit against UK tax computed by reference to the same income. India: subject to Indian law, UK tax payable on income from sources in the UK is allowed as a credit against the Indian tax payable on that income, not exceeding that proportion of Indian tax which such income bears to the entire income chargeable to Indian tax.
Income-tax Act, 2025, s. 159 — The Central Government may enter into agreements for relief from double taxation and avoidance of double taxation; where an agreement applies, the Act applies only to the extent more beneficial to the assessee (s. 159(4)). A non-resident may claim treaty relief only with a certificate of residence from the other country's government and the prescribed documents and information (s. 159(8)).
Income-tax Rules, 2026, rule 76; Forms No. 44 and 45 — A resident gets credit for foreign tax in the tax year in which the income is taxed in India; credit is the lower of the Indian tax on that income and the foreign tax, per source and per country; not against interest, fees or penalties; disputed foreign tax only after settlement (Form No. 45, within 6 months of the month of settlement). Form No. 44 with a certificate of income and tax and proof of payment, within 12 months from the end of the tax year if the return was filed on time; accountant verification if foreign tax is ₹1,00,000 or more. Conversion at the TT buying rate.
Sch. 45, Part 3 (paras 44–51); HMRC RFIG21010 — In the year of arrival or departure the UK tax year may, under specific conditions, be split: the overseas part is taxed as for a non-resident. It is not elective — it applies automatically if the conditions are met.
Finance Act 2025, s. 37; ITTOIA 2005 ss. 845A–845J; GOV.UK «Check if you can claim the 4-year foreign income and gains regime» (published 6 April 2025) — From 6 April 2025 the 4-year foreign income and gains (FIG) regime replaced the remittance basis. Available for at most 4 consecutive tax years from the start of UK residence, after at least 10 years of non-UK residence; claimed on the Self Assessment return; claimants lose the income tax and CGT tax-free allowances. Foreign earnings and specific employment income are not eligible.
HMRC National Insurance Manual NIM33251 — Special cases: India — Social security agreement between the UK and India: signed on 10 February 2026, in force from 15 July 2026 (The Social Security (Contributions) (Republic of India) Order 2026, S.I. 2026/274). It contains provisions on contribution matters only; it does not apply to self-employment; the detached-worker provision was increased from 36 to 60 months.
Art. 4(2)(a) India–UK Convention (1993) — Resident of the State in which he has a permanent home available to him; if he has a permanent home available to him in both States, resident of the State with which his personal and economic relations are closer (centre of vital interests).
Art. 4(2)(b) India–UK Convention (1993) — If the centre of vital interests cannot be determined, or if he has not a permanent home available to him in either State, the individual is deemed a resident of the State in which he has an habitual abode.
Art. 4(2)(c)–(d) India–UK Convention (1993) — Habitual abode in both States or in neither — resident of the State of which he is a national; national of both States or of neither — the competent authorities settle the question by mutual agreement.

Case law

Court of Appeal (England and Wales), A Taxpayer v HMRC [2025] EWCA Civ 106, 13/02/2025 — Moral obligations (caring for the children of a seriously ill relative) can be taken into account in deciding whether circumstances are exceptional for disregarding days under para 22(4); a person with 50 days was held not UK resident against a threshold of 45.
First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber), Michael Parker v HMRC [2026] UKFTT 652 (TC), 01/05/2026 — Three days were treated as transit and one as exceptional circumstances; with 89 remaining UK days the taxpayer met the full-time work abroad test and was not UK resident.

Updated 04/11/2026. The result is for information only and is not tax or legal advice. Tax authorities and courts may interpret the rules differently, including because of circumstances not covered here, and the law changes. Consult a qualified adviser before making decisions.

Check your status