The adjusted 183-day test comes first
The first automatic UK test is met when a person spends at least 183 days in the UK in the tax year. RDR3 says that once the applicable count is 183 or more, there is no need to consider other tests. At exactly 183, the threshold is met; it is not a more-than-183 rule.
The applicable count still reflects statutory day rules. Supported exceptional-circumstance days may be disregarded up to the statutory limit, while deemed qualifying days can be added when every prerequisite applies. A confirmed adjusted total of 183 therefore has precedence even if unrelated generic review flags are present; an unresolved adjustment remains unresolved.
The home test is not a property checklist
The second automatic UK test requires a UK home, a qualifying period of at least 91 consecutive days, at least 30 of those days in the tax year, and at least 30 days of presence in that UK home during the year. The legislation defines presence at the home by actual presence while it is a home.
During the relevant period, the person must have no overseas home or must spend fewer than 30 days in each overseas home in the tax year. Multiple UK and overseas homes are considered separately. Ownership alone, hotel bookings, registration or an address field cannot establish whether a place is a home for this test.
The UK work test requires a 365-day computation
The third automatic UK test examines a 365-day period, sufficient hours in the UK, no significant break from UK work, more than 75% of days with over three hours of work being UK workdays, and at least one such UK workday falling in both the period and the tax year. All elements belong to one test.
Schedule 45 uses net UK hours, disregarded days, leave and gaps between employments to calculate sufficient hours. It also contains a relevant-job rule for certain vehicle, aircraft and ship workers. Presence totals cannot reproduce this computation, and the estimator should not label ordinary travel as meeting the work test.
Do not skip overseas tests or special rules
An automatic UK test produces the automatic residence result only when none of the automatic overseas tests is met. This is why the full-year order begins overseas even though the 183-day guidance offers a direct preliminary checkpoint. Below that confirmed checkpoint, preserve the statutory sequence rather than selecting whichever test appears easiest.
A fourth automatic UK test applies only to deceased people and has its own conditions. Split-year cases, treaty residence and resulting tax treatment are not automatic-UK-test outputs. Use the day estimator as an organised worksheet and move home, work, worker and deceased-person facts to official guidance or qualified review.
- At least 183 adjusted UK days meets the first automatic UK test.
- Home and overseas-home presence periods require factual review.
- The 365-day work test cannot be inferred from annual UK days.
Official sources
- HMRC — RDR3 automatic UK tests
- HMRC — Automatic UK tests manual contents
- HMRC — Third automatic UK test
- Finance Act 2013 — Schedule 45 automatic UK tests
Sources were checked on . Linked institutions may update their guidance after that date.