The UK scrapped non-dom status in April 2025 and replaced it with one of the most generous arrival regimes in Europe. If you haven't been UK resident for the previous 10 tax years, you can pay no UK tax on your foreign income and gains for your first four years.
This guide covers UK personal tax for people moving to or living in the UK in the 2026-27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027), including the four-year foreign income and gains (FIG) regime, the Statutory Residence Test, inheritance tax for new residents, income tax rates, National Insurance and how crypto, investments and pensions are taxed.
The key question is simple. Is your income earned in the UK, or does it come from abroad? For your first four years, the UK treats the two very differently.
What's changed: from 6 April 2026, dividend tax rose to 10.75% for basic rate and 35.75% for higher rate taxpayers, voluntary Class 2 National Insurance for time abroad ended, and Making Tax Digital started for sole traders and landlords with income over £50,000. The Finance Act 2026 raises savings income rates to 22%, 42% and 47% from April 2027, with the same rates on property income in England and Northern Ireland (Scotland and Wales set their own), brings unused pensions into inheritance tax for deaths from 6 April 2027, and freezes the personal allowance at £12,570 until April 2031. The next Budget is on 28 October 2026. Anything announced there is Proposed, not law.
📋 UK tax at a glance for 2026-27
Topic | Details |
|---|---|
Tax system | Worldwide income for residents. New arrivals can claim four years of relief on foreign income and gains |
Top income tax rate | 45% above £125,140 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (48% in Scotland). The first £12,570 is tax free |
All-in on a US$100k salary | About 28% in England (about £75,600, single, including employee National Insurance), or about 31% in Scotland |
Special regime | FIG regime: 0% on foreign income and gains for the first 4 tax years, after 10 years of non-residence |
Dividends, interest, capital gains | Dividends 10.75%, 35.75% or 39.35% above a £500 allowance. Gains 18% or 24% above £3,000 |
Crypto gains | 18% or 24% capital gains tax. Not covered by the FIG regime |
Inheritance tax | 40% above £325,000. Foreign assets in scope once you've been resident 10 of the last 20 years |
Residence at a glance | Getting in: 183 days, a UK home or full-time UK work, or fewer days with enough UK ties. Leaving: harder, because ties can keep you resident on as few as 16 days |
Double tax treaties | One of the largest networks in the world, with treaty pages for more than 150 countries and territories |
The four-year FIG regime
Why is the UK interesting again for internationally mobile people? Because the FIG regime takes foreign income and gains out of UK tax for four years, even if you bring the money into the UK.
Image 1 — the FIG regime takes foreign income out of UK tax for four years
You qualify in your first four tax years of UK residence if you weren't UK resident in any of the 10 consecutive tax years before you arrived. Residence is decided by the Statutory Residence Test. The four years run in a row from the year you become resident, and you claim separately for each year. Years you don't claim can't be carried forward.
The relief covers foreign dividends and interest, foreign pensions, foreign rental profits, profits from a trade carried on wholly outside the UK, and gains on foreign assets. It doesn't cover UK income such as a UK salary, UK rent or UK dividends. Pay for work done abroad has its own relief, Overseas Workday Relief, which also runs for four years and is capped at the lower of 30% of your employment income or £300,000 a year.
There is a price. In any year you claim, you lose your personal allowance and the £3,000 capital gains allowance, which costs £2,514 or more if you also have UK income. You claim on the residence pages (SA109) of your Self Assessment return.
If you were taxed on the old remittance basis, the Temporary Repatriation Facility lets you bring in pre-April 2025 foreign income and gains at a flat 12% in 2025-26 and 2026-27, rising to 15% in 2027-28.
👉 HMRC helpsheet HS266: the foreign income and gains (FIG) regime
Inheritance tax for new residents
Inheritance tax now follows residence, not domicile. You become a long-term UK resident once you've been UK resident for 10 of the previous 20 tax years. Until then, foreign assets you own outright are generally outside UK inheritance tax. Your UK assets, such as a UK home, are in scope from day one.
The rate is 40% on the part of an estate above £325,000. The threshold can rise to £500,000 if you leave your home to children or grandchildren, and anything left to a spouse or civil partner is exempt.
Once you're a long-term resident, the status follows you for up to 10 tax years after you leave. The tail is shorter if you've lived in the UK for less time: 3 years after leaving if you were resident for 10 to 13 years, rising by a year for each extra year, to 10 years after 20 years of residence.
👉 GOV.UK: Inheritance Tax if you're a long-term UK resident
👉 GOV.UK: Inheritance Tax thresholds and rates
When you become tax resident in the UK
The UK uses the Statutory Residence Test (SRT). Each tax year is looked at on its own, in this order:
Automatic overseas tests: you're non-resident if you spend fewer than 16 days in the UK (if you were resident in one of the previous 3 tax years), fewer than 46 days (if you weren't), or you work full time abroad and spend fewer than 91 days in the UK.
Automatic UK tests: you're resident if you spend 183 days or more in the UK, if your only home is in the UK, or if you work full time in the UK.
Sufficient ties test: if neither applies, your UK ties decide it. The ties are family, accommodation, work, more than 90 days in the UK in either of the previous two tax years and, for leavers only, spending more days in the UK than in any other country.
For a new arrival, the ties test needs all four ties if you spend 46 to 90 days in the UK, three ties at 91 to 120 days, and two ties above 120 days. Split-year treatment can divide the year you arrive into a UK part and an overseas part, so foreign income from before you arrive is generally not taxed in the UK.
Leaving is harder than arriving. If you were UK resident in any of the previous three years, four ties make you resident on just 16 days, three on 46 days and two on 91 days. If you come back within five years, some gains and income from your time away can be taxed on your return.
👉 HMRC RDR3: guidance note for the Statutory Residence Test
Income tax rates for 2026-27
The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. These rates apply in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to salaries, self-employed profits, pensions and rent.
UK income tax rates for 2026-27 (England, Wales and Northern Ireland)
Taxable income | Rate |
|---|---|
Up to £12,570 | 0% (personal allowance) |
£12,571 to £50,270 | 20% |
£50,271 to £125,140 | 40% |
Over £125,140 | 45% |
Source: GOV.UK income tax rates for 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. The personal allowance falls by £1 for every £2 of income above £100,000, and is zero at £125,140.
Scotland sets its own rates on earnings, pensions and rent: six bands from 19% to 48%, with 42% starting at £43,663. Dividends and savings are taxed at UK rates everywhere.
👉 GOV.UK: Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances
👉 GOV.UK: Scottish Income Tax rates for 2026-27
Worked example
You're single, live in England and earn £75,600 (about US$100k) in 2026-27.
Your income tax is £17,672: 20% on £37,700 and 40% on £25,330.
Your employee National Insurance is £3,523: 8% up to £50,270 and 2% above that.
Your all-in bill is about £21,195, or 28% of your salary. In Scotland the income tax is £19,752 and the all-in bill about £23,275, or 31%.
Freelancing in the UK
If you're self-employed, your profit is taxed on the same scale, and you pay Class 4 National Insurance: 6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above that. With profits of £7,105 or more, you don't pay Class 2, but you're treated as having paid it, so your State Pension record is protected.
On £75,600 of profit in England, income tax is £17,672 and Class 4 is £2,769. That's about £20,441, or 27% all-in.
The FIG regime only covers a trade carried on wholly outside the UK, so working from the UK for clients abroad doesn't qualify. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies if your self-employment and property income is over £50,000, falling to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028.
👉 GOV.UK: National Insurance rates if you're self-employed
👉 HMRC: check if you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
Crypto, investments and pensions
How is crypto taxed in the UK? Gains are subject to capital gains tax at 18% within the basic rate band and 24% above it, after the £3,000 annual allowance.
Selling, swapping one crypto for another, spending it and giving it away (except to a spouse, civil partner or charity) all count as disposals.
Crypto you receive as pay, or from mining or staking, can be charged to income tax instead.
HMRC treats exchange tokens as located where their owner is resident. For a UK resident, crypto is a UK asset, so the FIG regime doesn't cover it.
On a US$100k (£75,600) gain, the tax is about £15,160 (20%) if you have no other income, or £17,424 (23%) if you're already a higher rate taxpayer.
Dividends above a £500 allowance are taxed at 10.75%, 35.75% or 39.35%, and gains on shares at 18% or 24%. Without the FIG regime, a US$1m portfolio yielding £30,200 of dividends and £30,200 of gains costs about £7,165 a year, or 12%. With it, foreign dividends, interest and gains are tax free for four years. Investments in UK companies and UK bank accounts are taxed in the normal way.
Foreign pensions are taxed in full on UK residents. They qualify for the FIG regime, so a new arrival can receive a foreign pension tax free for four years. After that, a US$40k (£30,200) foreign pension plus £15,100 of dividends costs about £5,096, or 11%. From 6 April 2027, unused pension funds will count towards your estate for inheritance tax.
👉 HMRC: check if you need to pay tax when you sell cryptoassets
👉 HMRC Cryptoassets Manual: where cryptoassets are located
👉 GOV.UK: tax on dividends for 2026-27
👉 GOV.UK: Capital Gains Tax rates and allowances
👉 HMRC Employment Income Manual: how foreign pensions are taxed
Social security
Employees pay Class 1 National Insurance at 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270 a year, and 2% above that. Your employer pays 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year.
If you're self-employed, you pay Class 4 at 6% and 2% on your profits. Voluntary Class 2 is £3.65 a week if your profits are below £7,105.
If you leave the UK, the rules for keeping up your State Pension record changed on 6 April 2026. You can no longer pay voluntary Class 2 for time abroad. You can pay Class 3 only if you've lived in the UK for 10 years in a row or have 10 years of contributions.
👉 HMRC: rates and thresholds for employers 2026-27
👉 GOV.UK: voluntary National Insurance if you live or work abroad
Double tax treaties
Does the UK have double tax treaties? Yes, and it has one of the largest networks in the world. GOV.UK has treaty pages for more than 150 countries and territories. Not all of them are full double tax treaties: some cover only the exchange of tax information, and a few are historic.
Treaties in force include those with the United States, Spain, France, Germany, Ireland, Canada, Australia and the UAE. If you're resident in the UK and another country at the same time, the treaty's tie-breaker decides where you're treated as resident.
👉 GOV.UK: UK tax treaties by country
Remote working from the UK
The UK doesn't have a digital nomad visa. The usual route for a remote worker is the Standard Visitor route, which normally lets you stay for up to six months. Depending on your nationality, you need a visa, an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), or neither.
The Immigration Rules let visitors carry on their overseas job remotely from the UK, provided that isn't the main purpose of the visit. You can't work for a UK company or live in the UK through frequent visits.
Your visa doesn't decide your tax position. Spend 183 days in the UK in a tax year, or meet another SRT test, and you're UK resident.
👉 GOV.UK: visit the UK as a Standard Visitor
👉 Immigration Rules Appendix Visitor: permitted activities, including remote work (PA 4(h))
Who is the UK good for?
How does the UK compare for different kinds of mover? Ratings are relative to the 150+ countries TaxPilot covers, based on 2026-27 rules, England rates and the all-in cost including National Insurance.
☑️ Who is the UK good for? Tax ratings for expats in 2026-27
Expat profile | UK rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
Employees | Moderate | About 28% all-in on a US$100k salary (about £75,600) in England, including employee National Insurance. In Scotland the same salary costs about 31%. There is no general tax break for employees who move to the UK. |
Freelancers (self-employed) | Moderate | About 27% all-in on US$100k of profit in England, including Class 4 National Insurance at 6% and 2%. The FIG regime doesn't help a freelancer working from the UK. |
Retirees | Good | 0% for your first four tax years on a US$40k foreign pension plus US$20k of foreign dividends, if you claim the FIG regime. After that, about 11%. The UK has a 40% inheritance tax, although foreign assets stay outside it until you've been resident for 10 of the last 20 years. |
Crypto gains | Moderate | About 20% to 23% on a US$100k gain: capital gains tax at 18% or 24% above the £3,000 allowance. HMRC treats crypto as located where its owner lives, so the FIG regime doesn't cover it. |
Investment income | Excellent | Dividends, interest and gains on a foreign portfolio are free of UK tax for your first four tax years under the FIG regime. Without it, the same US$1m portfolio costs about 12% a year in tax, which would rate Good. |
Digital nomad visa | Moderate | The UK has no digital nomad visa. A Standard Visitor can usually stay up to six months and may work remotely for an overseas employer, as long as that isn't the main purpose of the visit. |
Filing and deadlines
Employees usually pay through PAYE. You need a Self Assessment return if you're self-employed, have untaxed income such as foreign income, or want to claim the FIG regime or split-year treatment.
For the 2026-27 tax year, which ends on 5 April 2027:
register for Self Assessment by 5 October 2027 if you haven't filed before
file a paper return by 31 October 2027
file online and pay the tax due by 31 January 2028
If your last bill was £1,000 or more and less than 80% of it was collected at source, you also make payments on account towards the next year, each half of last year's bill, by 31 January and 31 July.
👉 GOV.UK: Self Assessment deadlines
👉 HM Treasury: the Budget will be held on 28 October 2026
Frequently asked questions
What is the FIG regime in the UK?
Since 6 April 2025, someone who becomes UK resident after at least 10 consecutive tax years of non-residence can claim relief from UK tax on foreign income and gains for their first four tax years. You claim it each year on your tax return and lose the personal allowance and capital gains allowance for that year.
How many days can I spend in the UK without becoming tax resident?
Under the Statutory Residence Test, 183 days always makes you resident. If you weren't resident in any of the previous three tax years, fewer than 46 days makes you non-resident. Between the two, your UK ties decide it, and a UK home or full-time UK work can make you resident on fewer days.
What are the UK income tax rates for 2026-27?
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the first £12,570 is tax free. Income is then taxed at 20% up to £50,270, 40% up to £125,140 and 45% above that. Scotland has six bands from 19% to 48%.
Is crypto taxed in the UK?
Yes. Gains are subject to capital gains tax at 18% or 24% after a £3,000 allowance, and swapping one crypto for another counts as a disposal. HMRC treats crypto as located where its owner lives, so the FIG regime doesn't cover it.
When does UK inheritance tax apply to someone who moves to the UK?
UK assets are in scope from the start. Foreign assets you own outright come into scope once you've been UK resident for 10 of the previous 20 tax years, and the status can follow you for up to 10 years after you leave. The rate is 40% above £325,000.
How many double tax treaties does the UK have?
The UK has one of the largest treaty networks in the world, with treaty pages on GOV.UK for more than 150 countries and territories. Treaties in force include those with the United States, Spain, France, Germany, Ireland, Canada, Australia and the UAE.
Where to go next
👉 Best countries for investors
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👉 Hardest countries to stop being tax resident
Important information
This article is general information and does not constitute tax, legal, immigration or financial advice, and does not create a client relationship. Tax outcomes depend on travel history, income sources, treaty status and the law applying to the relevant year. Rates, thresholds and regimes change, and some measures described may be proposed rather than enacted; this article reflects our understanding as at the date of publication. Obtain advice from a suitably qualified professional before acting or refraining from action.
