Moving overseas is not one decision. It is a chain of decisions with different deadlines: when to leave, how many days to spend back in the UK, what to do with your home, how to move cash, and which authorities need to know.
The safest approach is to build one dated plan before you book around it. Start with the free Move Planner to put the major tasks in order. Then use the specialist tools below when a tax, property or cash-flow decision needs its own calculation.
1. Establish the tax shape 90 to 60 days before departure
Your flight date does not by itself end UK tax residence. HMRC applies the Statutory Residence Test to the whole UK tax year, from 6 April to 5 April. The result depends on UK days, overseas work, homes, family and other UK ties.
Use the Full Statutory Residence Test as soon as you have a proposed departure date and a realistic travel pattern. It is most useful for comparing scenarios: for example, leaving on 20 August with 35 later UK days versus leaving on 1 September with 50 later UK days. It is not a substitute for keeping evidence or getting advice where the facts are uncertain.
HMRC says people leaving permanently, going to work abroad full-time for at least one full tax year, or foreign nationals leaving the UK generally need to tell HMRC. If you do not normally file Self Assessment, this is usually done using form P85. If you do file, you normally report the departure through the residence pages, SA109. Read HMRC's current leaving the UK guidance before choosing the route.
Gather this before using the residence tools
- Your intended departure date and every planned UK visit.
- UK and overseas workdays, including days with more than three hours of UK work.
- Details of homes available to you in both countries.
- Where your spouse, partner and minor children will live.
- Your UK day counts for the previous three tax years.
- Employment contracts, tenancy agreements and travel records that support the plan.
Check whether the departure year can be split
A person can be UK resident for the year and still qualify for split-year treatment, dividing the year into a UK part and an overseas part. It is not automatic, and only specific cases apply.
Use the Split-Year Planner after the residence test, not before it. The residence tool answers the broad status question; the split-year tool checks whether the departure-year timing may limit the period for which foreign income is exposed to UK resident taxation.
This distinction matters. HMRC notes that residents normally pay UK tax on worldwide income, while non-residents generally pay UK tax only on UK income. HMRC also warns that split-year treatment is not available if you live abroad for less than a full tax year before returning. See the official UK residence and tax guidance for the current framework.
2. Decide what stays in the UK 60 to 30 days before departure
Your home
Do not let the removal date make the property decision for you. Model selling, renting and leaving the home available separately. A UK home can affect cash flow, UK tax and your residence evidence.
Use Sell or Rent when you need to compare the financial routes. Use the Rental Tax Calculator if letting is the likely choice. These tools help quantify a decision; they cannot decide whether the property creates an accommodation tie or how a treaty applies to your exact facts.
If you become a non-resident landlord, UK rental income may remain taxable and the Non-resident Landlord Scheme can affect how tax is collected. Build agent fees, insurance, maintenance, empty periods and currency conversion into the estimate.
Pensions and National Insurance
Do not treat a pension transfer as part of the moving checklist. Compare actual scheme values, transfer charges and destination-country tax treatment before deciding whether any transfer is suitable. If the question is whether filling National Insurance gaps could improve a future UK State Pension, use the NI Top-Up Calculator instead. These are different decisions and should not be bundled into a single “move my pension” choice.
Cash and currency
List the deposits you must fund in the destination currency: housing, school, visa, vehicle, insurance and emergency cash. Then keep relocation cash separate from long-term investments.
Use the Currency Cost Calculator before requesting transfer quotes. It shows how the exchange-rate margin and fees change the amount received. Use it when comparing providers on the same day and the same transfer amount; do not compare a headline “zero fee” offer without checking the rate.
3. Close the evidence gaps in the final 30 days
Run the UK Days Abroad Counter with confirmed travel bookings and continue updating it after departure. A day count is useful only if it reflects changes, cancellations and unexpected UK visits.
Also save copies of:
- P45, final payslips, pension statements and recent tax returns.
- Property completion documents or tenancy and managing-agent agreements.
- Employment contract and evidence of the overseas work location.
- Visa, residence permit, health cover and local registration.
- Account statements showing balances before major currency transfers.
- A dated inventory of assets and their market values where future gains may depend on arrival or departure values.
A worked example
Sam plans to leave Manchester for Singapore on 31 August. Sam expects to work full-time overseas, keep a UK flat for six months, visit family at Christmas and return for several UK work meetings.
The Move Planner provides the master timetable. The Full SRT is run with the expected UK visits and workdays; Sam then compares a second scenario with fewer UK workdays. Because the move happens during the tax year, Sam runs the Split-Year Planner. The Sell or Rent and Rental Tax tools compare keeping the flat with selling before departure. Finally, the Currency Cost Calculator compares the sterling-to-Singapore-dollar cost of funding the rental deposit.
Sam takes the outputs, travel schedule and property documents to a cross-border tax adviser before contracts are finalised.
When to get professional advice
Get UK and destination-country advice before acting if you own a company, trust or multiple properties; hold share options or carried interest; expect a large disposal; have a defined-benefit pension; may return to the UK within five years; or could be resident in both countries under domestic rules.
Treaties can allocate taxing rights or offer relief, but they do not remove filing and evidence requirements automatically. The best time for advice is while the departure date, UK visits and transaction timing can still change.
4. Follow this action order
- Build the master timetable in the Move Planner.
- Run a cautious UK-day and ties scenario in the Full Statutory Residence Test.
- Check the departure-year conditions in the Split-Year Planner.
- Decide whether the UK home will be sold, genuinely let or kept available, then model the relevant property route.
- Put your P85 or SA109 route, travel log and evidence folder on the timetable.
- Ring-fence destination deposits and compare transfer costs on the same day.
- Take the dates, documents and tool outputs to a cross-border adviser before a large transaction or an irreversible pension decision.
The useful outcome is a dated plan that can be updated when work, housing or travel changes, rather than a move built around a single flight date.