Tax residency abroad · Counting days
Dual residency: can you be tax resident in two countries?
Short answer
Yes. Each country applies its own residence rules, so you can be tax resident in two at once — GOV.UK says so for the UK and another country. A double taxation agreement between the two then decides where you’re resident for the agreement, with tie-breaker tests taken one at a time.
How dual residency happens
Every country counts days its own way — the UK over a tax year from 6 April, Spain over the calendar year, Portugal over any 12 months — and most look at more than days. Meet two countries’ tests in the same period and you’re resident in both. How the 183-day rule differs by country shows how far apart the counts can be.
The tie-breaker tests
HMRC’s helpsheet on dual residents lists the tests a double taxation agreement uses, in this order. Once one of them settles it, the rest don’t apply:
- Permanent home — accommodation that’s always available for your own use that year. A home in both countries, or in neither, moves you on to the next tests.
- Centre of vital interests — where your social, domestic, political and cultural links are greater.
- Habitual abode — which of the two countries you live in regularly, normally or customarily.
- Nationality — generally, you’re resident where you’re a national.
If the tests show you’re not UK resident, you can usually claim relief from UK tax. Each agreement has its own wording, so check the one between your two countries.
If you’re taxed twice
The same income can still be taxed twice — in the UK and in the country it comes from. You can usually claim relief to get some or all of that tax back; how much depends on the agreement between the two countries. For the UK’s own day count, see the UK tax residency rules.
Sources
FlySee counts days; it doesn’t give tax advice. Whether you’re resident is for you and your adviser.