EIM70230 - Tax treatment of seafarers: residence status: employment outside United Kingdom territorial waters

A seafarer will normally be regarded as not resident and not ordinarily resident in the UK from the day following departure to the day preceding return where he or she:

• has been ordinarily resident in the UK and leaves the UK to take up full time employment on a ship and
• the absence from the UK and the period of service includes a complete tax year and
• leave spent in the United Kingdom totals less than 183 days in any tax year and averages less than 91 days for each tax year (the average is taken over a period of absence up to a maximum of 4 years).

However, this will not include seafarers whose employment arrangements consist of frequent and regular voyages to and from the UK.