Coming back to the UK: tax in your first year

The kettle's on, the flat's rented, and HMRC would like a word. Your first year home decides a lot, and some of the best reliefs have to be claimed rather than handed to you.

The short version

In the tax year you arrive, split-year treatment can mean the UK only taxes you on foreign income from your arrival date. There are five "arrival" cases, and you claim on the SA109 residence pages [1][2].
If you've been non-resident for at least 10 consecutive tax years, you may be able to claim the four-year foreign income and gains (FIG) regime from 6 April 2025: your foreign income and gains can be free of UK tax for your first four years back [3][4].
Claiming FIG relief costs you your personal allowance and capital gains tax annual exempt amount for that year, so it isn't always worth it [5].
If you were away for five years or less, the temporary non-residence rules can tax some gains and income from your time abroad in the year you return [6].
Bringing your savings home isn't taxed as such. What matters is the income and gains, and when they arose.

Step one: are you UK resident yet?

The Statutory Residence Test decides if you're UK resident for a tax year (6 April to 5 April). Most people moving home for good will be resident for the year they arrive. Without split-year treatment, that would make you taxable on your worldwide income for the whole year, including the months you were still living in Dubai or Auckland.

Split-year treatment on arrival

Split-year treatment divides the year into an overseas part and a UK part. HMRC's Residence and FIG Regime Manual lists eight cases. Cases 1 to 3 are for leavers; cases 4 to 8 are for arrivals [1]:

Case	When it applies (in brief)
Case 4	You start to have a home in the UK only
Case 5	You start full-time work in the UK
Case 6	You stop full-time work overseas and come back
Case 7	You're the partner of someone in Case 6 and come back with them
Case 8	You start to have a home in the UK (and keep one abroad for a while)

Each case has detailed conditions about days, homes and ties, and if more than one applies there's a pecking order. You claim on the SA109 residence pages of your Self Assessment return: tick the split-year box, name the case, and give the date the UK part started [2]. Box 23 asks for your arrival date, and box 24 for the last tax year you were UK resident before it [2].

If you got split-year treatment on the way out, you'll recognise the drill. If you didn't, now's the time to read the cases properly, ideally before booking the removal van, because the date you get a UK home or start a UK job can decide which case fits.

The four-year FIG regime for returners

From 6 April 2025, the old non-dom remittance basis was abolished and replaced by the four-year foreign income and gains regime. It isn't just for foreigners. HMRC is explicit that nationality and domicile don't matter [3][4]. A Brit coming home after a long stint abroad can qualify like anyone else.

Who qualifies

You're a "qualifying new resident" in any of your first four tax years of UK residence after at least 10 consecutive tax years of non-UK residence [2][4]. So:

Left in 2012 and came back in 2025/26? Likely eligible, if you were non-resident for every tax year in between.
Left for eight years, then came home? Not eligible.
Spent one year back in the middle of a long spell abroad? That resets the count.

The four years run consecutively from the year you become UK resident, and unused years can't be carried forward. If you leave again within the four years, you can't claim for the years away, but can claim for any remaining qualifying years when you come back [4].

What it covers

Most foreign income and gains can be relieved: overseas rental profits, foreign dividends and interest, gains on non-UK assets, profits from a trade carried on wholly abroad, and many foreign pensions [5]. You don't have to keep the money offshore. Bringing relieved income or gains into the UK doesn't create a tax charge [3].

Some things are excluded. Foreign employment income isn't covered by the FIG regime itself, though you may be able to claim Overseas Workday Relief for work done abroad in those years [3][5]. Some pension income and some trust income is "disqualified" and taxed as it arises [5]. UK income, such as rent from a flat in Leeds or a UK pension, is taxed normally.

What it costs

This is where the free lunch gets a service charge. In any year you claim FIG relief, you lose your personal allowance and your capital gains tax annual exempt amount, plus several smaller reliefs. This applies even if you only claim relief on foreign income [5]. For 2026/27 that's a £12,570 personal allowance and a £3,000 annual exempt amount [7]. You also can't use foreign losses that year [5].

So if you have a modest overseas rent and a UK salary, claiming may cost more than it saves. If you have significant foreign investment income, or plan to sell foreign shares or property in your first years back, it can be very valuable. You choose which income and gains to claim on, and decide year by year [4].

How and when to claim

You claim on the SA109: box 28 for foreign income, box 29 for foreign gains, with Overseas Workday Relief elected and claimed separately [2]. The deadline is one year after the normal online filing date, so for 2025/26 it's 31 January 2028 [5]. You still have to report the income and gains you're claiming relief on, which means records from abroad. Keep those bank statements.

The temporary non-residence trap

If you've only been away briefly, a different rule kicks in. The temporary non-residence rules apply if you had sole UK residence for at least four of the seven tax years before you left, and you come back within five years [6]. Gains on assets you owned before you left, realised while abroad, can be taxed as if they arose in your year of return. The same goes for some income, such as certain pension lump sums and flexible drawdown withdrawals, and dividends from your own close company [6].

The classic case: someone leaves, sells a UK share portfolio tax-free in year two abroad, and comes back in year four. HMRC then taxes that gain in the year of return. Very little feels worse than that, except perhaps a warm pint.

Bringing money and pensions back

Savings and capital. Moving your own money into the UK isn't taxable in itself. The tax question is about income and gains, not transfers.
Foreign pensions. Once you're UK resident, an overseas pension is usually taxable in the UK, subject to the relevant double taxation agreement and, in your first four years, possibly FIG relief [5].
Transferring a pension into the UK. Never do it without regulated financial advice. Moving pensions across borders can trigger tax charges in either country, and pension scams target returners. Check the FCA's register and MoneyHelper's scam warnings first.
Your ISA. You can start paying in again once you're UK resident.

A tax adviser who knows both countries can check your situation before the first return, not after. Our community groups for Brits abroad also include plenty of people who've already done the reverse move.

Coming back: tax in your first year home in the UK