Moving to the UK changes a lot of things. Your address, your daily life, your job. What many people don’t fully anticipate is how it changes their relationship with HMRC — and how quickly that relationship becomes complicated.
Whether you arrived recently or have been living and working in the UK for some years, your tax position depends on factors that go well beyond where you currently live. Residency, domicile, the source of your income, and what other countries might have a claim on your earnings all play a role. Getting this wrong costs money. In some cases it creates HMRC problems that take years to unwind.
At Hayes Chartered Certified Accountants and Tax Consultants, we work with immigrants, foreign nationals, and non-UK domiciled individuals across London and the UK. We give clear, specific advice — not vague reassurances — on what you owe, what you don’t, and how to stay on the right side of two or more tax systems at once.
Everything in UK tax for foreign nationals starts with residency. The UK uses the Statutory Residence Test (SRT) to determine whether you’re UK tax resident in any given tax year. It’s more nuanced than simply being here — it looks at the number of days spent in the UK, your ties to the country (family, work, accommodation, and others), and prior years’ residency history.
If you’re UK tax resident, you’re generally liable to UK Income Tax on your worldwide income. If you’re not, your UK liability is limited to UK-source income only.
Getting residency status wrong — particularly in the year you arrive or leave — is one of the most common and most expensive mistakes we see. Split-year treatment can apply in the year you arrive or depart, and it needs to be claimed correctly on your tax return.
Residency and domicile are not the same thing. You can be UK tax resident without being UK domiciled.
Domicile is a legal concept rooted in where you consider your permanent home to be. Generally, you acquire your domicile of origin from your father at birth. It can change, but it takes more than just living somewhere to do so. Many people who have lived in the UK for years remain non-UK domiciled in the legal sense.
Non-domicile status used to carry significant tax advantages — particularly through the remittance basis, which allowed non-doms to avoid UK tax on foreign income and gains as long as that money wasn’t brought into the UK. However, the rules in this area have changed substantially, and from April 2025 onwards, the remittance basis has been replaced with a new foreign income and gains (FIG) regime for new arrivals.
The new FIG regime offers a 4-year exemption on foreign income and gains for individuals who were not UK tax resident in the previous 10 years. After those 4 years, worldwide income and gains become taxable in the UK in the normal way.
This is a significant change. If you were relying on the old non-dom rules, your position has likely shifted. We help clients understand exactly where they stand under the new regime and plan accordingly.
If you’re UK tax resident, HMRC generally expects you to declare income from overseas sources — rental income from property abroad, investment returns, business income, pensions, and more. Double taxation treaties between the UK and many other countries exist to prevent the same income being taxed twice, but they don’t eliminate the need to declare — they determine where and how much is taxed.
We help clients:
Missing overseas income on a UK return — even accidentally — can lead to HMRC opening an enquiry and potentially charging penalties for years prior.
Recently arrived in the UK for work. You may have income from your home country — a pension, rental property, investments. We confirm what needs to be declared and what doesn’t under current rules.
Running a limited company or operating as self-employed in the UK requires UK tax compliance regardless of your nationality or domicile.
If your employer is based overseas but you work in the UK, or you split your working time between countries, the tax position becomes genuinely complex — payroll, residency, and treaty relief all interact.
Rental income from foreign property is generally taxable in the UK if you're UK resident. Capital gains on the sale may be too, subject to treaty provisions.
Departure doesn't automatically end your UK tax obligations. Ongoing UK income sources, your residency status in the year you leave, and capital gains on UK assets all need careful handling.
London in particular has a large and diverse population of people who weren’t born in the UK, don’t hold UK domicile, or maintain financial connections abroad. We’ve worked with clients from across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and beyond.
We’re not going to pretend that cross-border tax is simple — it isn’t. But it is manageable when you have an accountant who knows the rules, keeps up with the changes (and the non-dom rules have changed considerably in recent years), and explains the position clearly rather than overwhelm you with complexity.
We work entirely remotely where needed, which suits many of our international clients well.
If you’re navigating UK tax as an immigrant, foreign national, or non-UK domiciled individual, the right advice from the start saves you considerably more than it costs.
Hayes Chartered Certified Accountants and Tax Consultants — London-based, working nationally and internationally.
Call us on 020 8646 0800, WhatsApp us on 07429 584191, or fill in the contact form on our website to arrange an initial conversation. No obligation, no jargon.
If you’re self-employed or have untaxed income, you need to register for Self Assessment by 5 October following the end of the tax year in which you first had that income. If you’re employed and PAYE is operating correctly, you may not need to file — but it’s worth confirming, especially with overseas income in the picture.
If you’re UK tax resident, the interest, dividends, or other returns from those accounts are generally taxable in the UK, subject to any applicable treaty. The accounts themselves don’t need to be declared, but the income from them does.
The Foreign Income and Gains regime replaced the old remittance basis from April 2025. It provides a 4-year exemption from UK tax on foreign income and gains for eligible new arrivals who were not UK tax resident in the 10 prior years. We assess eligibility and ensure clients claim it correctly.
Possibly. It depends on the double tax treaty between the UK and the country paying the pension. Some treaties give exclusive taxing rights to the source country; others allow both countries to tax with relief available. We advise on this case by case.
Yes. Many of our new-to-UK clients are in the process of getting their NI number when they first come to us. There are still things we can do — and advise on — while that process completes.
Get it sorted sooner rather than later. HMRC has access to a lot of third-party data now, and gaps in filing history get noticed. We help clients get up to date with minimum disruption and handle any HMRC communication professionally.
There are a lot of ways you can contact Hayes Chartered Certified Accountants (HCCA),
Call : 0208646 0800
WhatsApp : 07429584191
Email : info@hayes-accountants.co.uk
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Stop juggling your finances alone. Hayes Chartered Certified Accountants and Tax Consultants offers everything a business or individual needs under one roof — Bookkeeping, VAT returns, payroll, self-assessment tax returns, pension auto enrolment, year end accounts, corporation tax, capital gains tax, CIS tax returns, tax rebates, landlord taxation, management accounts, cash flow management, budgeting and forecasting, tax advisory, company formation, registered address, company secretarial services, and Making Tax Digital (MTD) compliance. One team. Every service. Zero hidden fees.
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