Test the prior-resident branch
The first automatic overseas test generally applies where a person was UK resident in one or more of the three preceding tax years and spends fewer than 16 days in the UK in the year under review. Schedule 45 also says this first test does not apply if the person dies in that year.
The threshold is strictly fewer than 16, not 16 or fewer. The day count must use the statutory rules, including any supported exceptional-circumstance adjustment. Prior residence is a legal input from earlier years, not something that current travel dates can infer reliably.
Test the previously non-resident branch
The second automatic overseas test generally applies where the person was UK resident in none of the three preceding tax years and spends fewer than 46 days in the UK. This is a different branch from the first test; a person should not choose the more generous threshold without establishing the prior-year history.
Again, the boundary is fewer than 46. A count of exactly 46 does not meet this test. Failing either short-day branch does not establish UK residence: it only means the ordered SRT review continues to the remaining automatic tests and, if necessary, sufficient ties.
Treat full-time overseas work as a complex test
The third automatic overseas test requires sufficient hours overseas over the tax year, no significant break from overseas work, fewer than 31 days with more than three hours of UK work, and fewer than 91 UK days under its special no-deeming channel. Each condition must be met; the two visible thresholds are not the whole test.
Schedule 45 calculates sufficient overseas hours through disregarded days, net overseas hours, leave and employment-gap adjustments, a reference period and a 35-hour result. HMRC also describes significant breaks. These mechanics require more evidence than annual UK presence totals, so the estimator must refer them for review instead of guessing.
Preserve exclusions and next steps
The ordinary third test does not apply in a specified way to some people with a relevant job aboard a vehicle, aircraft or ship and at least six qualifying cross-border trips. Deceased people have additional automatic overseas tests with modified conditions. Those categories cannot be represented by silently changing a day threshold.
If an automatic overseas test is securely met, the ordinary full-year path ends there. If none is met, proceed to automatic UK tests rather than directly scoring ties. Treaty questions and split-year treatment remain separate reviews, and an overseas-test guide does not decide filing status, filing duties, liability or final residence.
- Prior resident: fewer than 16 days for the ordinary first test.
- Not resident in all three prior years: fewer than 46 days for the second test.
- Full-time overseas work: every work, break and day condition needs evidence.
Official sources
- HMRC — RDR3 automatic overseas tests
- HMRC — Automatic overseas tests manual contents
- Finance Act 2013 — Schedule 45 automatic overseas tests
Sources were checked on . Linked institutions may update their guidance after that date.