Do I pay UK tax on salary for days I work outside the UK after moving?

Checked on 2026-10-25

Possibly not. From 6 April 2025, if you are a qualifying new resident (UK resident after at least 10 tax years of non-residence), you can elect Overseas Workday Relief in your tax return for pay relating to work done outside the UK, for up to 4 tax years, capped each year at 30% of qualifying employment income or £300,000.

Key facts

What	HMRC’s guidance says	Source
Who can get it	An employee who is a “qualifying new resident” for the tax year: UK resident, non-UK resident for at least 10 tax years in a row before it, and not disqualified	HMRC, OWR guidance (“Qualifying new resident for a tax year”); ITTOIA 2005 s. 845B
For how many years	Up to 4 tax years: the first qualifying year and any of the next 3 in which you are UK resident	HMRC, OWR guidance; ITTOIA 2005 s. 845B(2)
What it covers	Employment income relating to duties carried out outside the UK in a qualifying year, from an employment performed wholly or partly outside the UK	HMRC, OWR guidance (“How Overseas Workday Relief applies”)
How it’s split	On a just and reasonable basis; in most cases HMRC expects apportionment by UK and overseas workdays	HMRC, OWR guidance
How to get it	Make an OWR election and a claim, quantifying the relief, in your Self Assessment tax return	HMRC, OWR guidance (“How to make an election”)
Annual limit	The lower of 30% of qualifying employment income for the year or £300,000	HMRC, OWR guidance (“Annual financial limits”)
What you lose	Personal Allowance and Capital Gains Tax annual exempt amount for the year of the election, and the ability to claim foreign income or foreign capital losses that year	HMRC, OWR guidance
Where the money is paid	UK or overseas bank account; offshore pay can be brought to the UK without a charge	HMRC, OWR guidance

Who qualifies

HMRC’s guidance says the relief, reformed from 6 April 2025, is in Chapter 5C of Part 2 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 as “foreign employment relief”. It uses the same “qualifying new resident” test as the 4-year foreign income and gains regime, set out in section 845B of the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005: UK resident for the tax year and not UK resident for each of the 10 tax years before it. A qualifying new resident stays one in any of the following 3 tax years in which they are UK resident.

Your UK residence comes from the statutory residence test. HMRC says being treated as resident in another country under a tax treaty does not change your UK residence status for this purpose.

Election, claim and the cost

You make the election in the Self Assessment tax return for the qualifying year, then claim the relief in each return in which that year’s foreign employment income is taxed. HMRC says that if you don’t elect for a qualifying year, you can never claim relief for income relating to that year, though you can still elect for later qualifying years.

The election costs you the Personal Allowance and the Capital Gains Tax annual exempt amount for that tax year. A claim in a later year, without a new election, does not affect that later year’s allowances.

The year you arrive

If the year of the election is a split year, HMRC says OWR applies only to income relating to the UK part. HMRC lists pay for work done overseas in the overseas part of a split year, or in a tax year you are not UK resident, as income OWR does not apply to.

Arrived and claimed OWR under the old remittance-basis rules before 6 April 2025? HMRC’s guidance has transitional rules: you may keep OWR for your first three years of UK residence, without the financial limit, but you must make an election for tax years from 6 April 2025.
Other foreign income (dividends, interest, rent, foreign business profits) is covered by the 4-year FIG regime, not by OWR (HMRC, Check if you can claim the 4-year FIG regime).

Sources

HMRC: Globally mobile employees, Overseas Workday Relief (rules from 6 April 2025) checked 2026-10-25
Finance Act 2025, section 37, inserting section 845B (qualifying new residents) into the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 (legislation.gov.uk) checked 2026-10-25
HMRC: Check if you can claim the 4-year foreign income and gains regime checked 2026-10-25

Change history

2026-10-25: Page created

This is general information, not legal advice, and Lumen is not a law firm. Rules change and offices differ: check the official sources above before you act. Found something wrong or out of date? Write to support@lumen.observer.