https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/Plain-English UK tax writing for expats and non-residents: the residence test, the non-resident landlord scheme, the 60-day CGT rule, the FIG regime and voluntary National Insurance from abroad.en-GBhttps://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/how-hmrc-counts-a-uk-day/https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/how-hmrc-counts-a-uk-day/ArticlesEveryone doing their own residence sums counts days the way a diary would: if I was there, it counts. HMRC's test runs on midnight, not daylight hours, and layers on a transit exemption, an exceptional-circumstances cap and a deeming rule that can turn thirty day trips into UK residence.Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/split-year-treatment-eight-cases/https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/split-year-treatment-eight-cases/ArticlesThe year splits into a UK part and an overseas part only if you fit one of eight statutory cases. It is automatic, not optional, and the split date matters.Mon, 07 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/disregarded-income-non-residents/https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/disregarded-income-non-residents/ArticlesA statutory cap on what HMRC can charge a non-resident can make UK dividends and interest vanish from the computation. The price is your personal allowance.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/ni-years-expiring-april-2027/https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/ni-years-expiring-april-2027/ArticlesVoluntary National Insurance can only reach back six tax years, which gives the system a silent annual deadline: every 5 April, one more year of your pension record becomes permanently unfixable. What's still open, what each year is worth, and how to decide properly in one sitting.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/nrl-20-percent-check/https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/nrl-20-percent-check/ArticlesIf you've moved abroad and your letting agent's statements have quietly shrunk, look for a line marked 'tax' or 'NRL'. It isn't a mistake and it isn't optional for the agent — but it is fixable, usually with a refund at the end. The mechanics, the two forms, and the recovery sequence.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/sixty-day-rule-solicitors-dont-mention/https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/sixty-day-rule-solicitors-dont-mention/ArticlesCompletion starts a clock that most conveyancers never mention: non-residents must file a CGT return within 60 days — even at a loss, even at nil. Where the rule came from, what filing involves, and the exact salvage routine if you've already blown the deadline.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/fig-regime-first-year-lessons/https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/fig-regime-first-year-lessons/ArticlesThe four-year tax window that replaced the non-dom rules is genuinely generous — and claim-based, allowance-costing and hard-edged. After a full filing season, the same three errors keep walking through the door. Here's each one, and the shape of getting it right.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/frozen-state-pension-countries/https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/frozen-state-pension-countries/ArticlesRetire in Toronto and your UK State Pension is frozen for life; retire twenty miles south in the USA and it rises every April. The uprating map is arbitrary, decades old, politically stuck — and it should shape both where the maths points and how you value buying NI years.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/leaving-uk-checklist-2026/https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/articles/leaving-uk-checklist-2026/ArticlesBetween booking the movers and boarding the flight, there is a short list of tax jobs that cost almost nothing done in the right month and four figures done in the wrong year. The complete list, in the order the deadlines actually arrive.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.expataccountants.co.uk/guides/statutory-residence-test/https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/guides/statutory-residence-test/GuidesWhether the UK taxes your worldwide income comes down to a mechanical test of days, ties and work. This is how it actually works — the automatic tests, the ties table, the split-year rules and the evidence that wins arguments with HMRC.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.expataccountants.co.uk/guides/non-resident-landlord-scheme/https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/guides/non-resident-landlord-scheme/GuidesMove abroad and your letting agent is legally required to send 20% of your rent to HMRC — unless you stop them with one form. How the scheme works, what the annual return involves, and the allowance question that decides whether you owe anything at all.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.expataccountants.co.uk/guides/60-day-cgt-rule/https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/guides/60-day-cgt-rule/GuidesEvery non-resident who sells UK land or property must file a return within 60 days of completion — profit or loss, tax or no tax. The rebasing choice that shrinks most long-held gains, the penalty clock, and the rescue routine when you find out late.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.expataccountants.co.uk/guides/fig-regime-new-arrivals/https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/guides/fig-regime-new-arrivals/GuidesThe non-dom era is over. Since April 2025, qualifying new arrivals get four tax years in which foreign income and gains are completely free of UK tax — money you can bring into the country freely. Who qualifies, what it covers, and the mistakes already costing people the relief.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.expataccountants.co.uk/guides/voluntary-nics-from-abroad/https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/guides/voluntary-nics-from-abroad/GuidesFor £3.50 a week, most working expats can keep their UK State Pension growing while they're away. It is the best-returning financial decision available to a British expat, and the majority never make it.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.expataccountants.co.uk/guides/renting-out-your-uk-home/https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/guides/renting-out-your-uk-home/GuidesThe most common expat property story isn't an investor with a portfolio — it's a family who moved for work and kept the house. Everything that needs doing, in the order it needs doing: before you fly, when the tenancy starts, every year after, and when you eventually sell.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.expataccountants.co.uk/guides/uk-tax-when-you-cant-file-online/https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/guides/uk-tax-when-you-cant-file-online/GuidesHMRC's own website cannot file the pages that make you non-resident. Add a dead UK SIM, a locked Government Gateway and a helpline that opens at 3am your time, and January gets ugly. Here's the whole mechanical side, fixed in advance.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.expataccountants.co.uk/guides/double-taxation-treaties-explained/https://www.expataccountants.co.uk/guides/double-taxation-treaties-explained/GuidesTwo countries can both have claims on the same income. Treaties decide who wins what, and credits mop up the rest — but every protection in a treaty is claimed on a return, not applied by magic. How the system fits together for the classic expat cases.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT