RDRM12010 - Residence: The SRT: What is a split year
Under the SRT, an individual is either UK resident or non-UK resident for a full tax year, and at all times in that tax year.
However, if during a year the individual starts to live or work abroad, or comes from abroad to live or work in the UK, the tax year will be split into 2 parts, if their circumstances meet specific criteria:
- a UK part for which they will be charged to UK tax as a UK resident
- an overseas part for which, for most purposes, the individual will be charged to UK tax as a non-UK resident.
Under the SRT an individual who is resident in the UK for a year is obliged to consider whether split year treatment applies to them. They must consider each of the cases of split year and decide if, in respect of each case, they meet all the conditions.
If they meet all the conditions of one of the cases of split year it will be applied to them. The individual does not have a choice whether split year treatment applies.
If they meet all the conditions of more than 1 case of split year the priority ordering rules are applied. See RDRM12030 for more details.
The HMRC booklet RDR1 provides a broad guide to the taxation of different income sources to determine the impact split year treatment will have on the tax an individual has to pay.