Moving Abroad: Prepare Your Tax Residence Review

A move changes practical facts about your life. Whether it changes tax residence depends on the rules that apply to those facts. Start the review before changing property, business arrangements, or accounts, so you understand the consequences of each decision.

Build a timeline

Record expected departure and arrival dates, work locations, available homes, family arrangements, and ongoing business interests. Track actual travel as it happens. Do not treat 183 days as a universal safe limit: day counts, ties, and tax years differ.

Ask for an assessment of both countries

Your adviser should identify the relevant domestic residence tests, any applicable treaty, ongoing source-country taxes, filing duties, and possible departure charges. Becoming resident somewhere new does not automatically end residence elsewhere. Nor is a residence permit the same thing as a tax determination.

For the UK, use the full Statutory Residence Test. Rules for foreign income changed from 6 April 2025, so older remittance-basis summaries should not drive a new decision. UK foreign-income guidance.

US citizens and resident aliens generally remain subject to US tax on worldwide income abroad, with relief depending on eligibility. Expatriation has separate rules and is not a routine shortcut for moving. IRS Publication 54, expatriation tax.

Get a written action list

Ask which notifications and returns apply, who files them, when they are due, and what records you should retain. Include the company, payroll, social contributions, investments, and pensions where relevant. Confirm how changes during the year affect the assessment.

Avoid generic instructions to sell your home or close every account. Those actions can have financial and personal consequences and do not replace an analysis of the actual rules.

Use the review to plan the move

Compare the total cost and administration of the proposed arrangement with your current one. Keep official sources and the assessment with your records, then revisit it if travel or family plans change.

Read the remote-work destination worksheet or explore related topics in the Freedom Library.