RFIG42100 - FIG regime: Claims for relief - making a claim
Overview
Section 845A ITTOIA 2005
Paragraphs 1 and 2 Schedule D1 TCGA 1992
An individual who is a ‘qualifying new resident’ and meets the eligibility criteria set out at RFIG44000 must decide whether they want to use the new FIG regime to claim relief on their foreign income and gains in their first 4 years of UK tax residence. A claim under the FIG regime is a claim to relief for tax purposes. A claim can be made for foreign income, or foreign gains, or both. They may also be able to make an election for new Overseas Workday Relief (see EIM43550).
Claims under the FIG regime can be made for the 2025-26 tax year onwards. No claims can be made for any foreign income or gains that accrued prior to 6 April 2025 (see example 3 on RFIG44000 for the remittance of pre-6 April 2025 foreign income and gains).
Not all types of foreign income are available to be relieved under the FIG regime; there are some exceptions. See RFIG45100 onwards for details of qualifying foreign income and disqualified income. For details of foreign gains available to be relieved, see RFIG45500.
There is no de minimis or automatic application of the relief without a claim, so for the relief to apply to any amount of income or gain it must be included within a claim.
Format of claim
A claim for relief must both:
- be made on the individual’s Self Assessment tax return for the tax year that the claim applies to
- include details of the foreign income or gains to be relieved under the FIG regime – income and gains to be relieved must be claimed on a source-by-source basis
Declaring foreign income and gains for relief purposes is no different to declaring foreign income and gains that will be taxed on the arising basis. For further information on how to declare foreign income and gains, refer to the Self Assessment tax return guidance notes.
See RFIG42300 for the relevant time limits for claims.
See RFIG43000 for the effect of making either claim, including the impact on an individual’s allowances etc.
A foreign income claim or foreign gain claim must be made by the individual who is taxable on the income or gain.
Quantifying a claim
Where an individual makes a foreign income claim for a tax year, they are entitled to an amount of relief equal to the amount of ‘qualifying foreign income’ (see RFIG45100) that is declared on their Self Assessment tax return for that year. The amount of relief being claimed must be quantified in the relevant tax return (see SACM3025). The relief is given by deducting the amount of the relief from the individual's qualifying foreign income in calculating their net income for the tax year – see Step 2 of the calculation in section 23 ITA 2007 and section 845A(3) and (3A) ITTOIA 2005.
When quantifying the amounts of income on which individuals will make a claim for relief, they should consult the HMRC guidance relevant to the source of income they are seeking to quantify. See Reasonable care: tax-returns and other documents for general guidance on quantifying amounts in tax returns.
There is no limit to the amount of relief which may be
claimed under the FIG regime during the period that an individual is a
qualifying new resident. However, an individual must claim for each amount of
foreign income, from each source, in each tax year that they want to be relieved. For
example, if an individual had qualifying foreign pension income and foreign dividend
income in the 2025-26 tax year, they would need to declare each type of income
and claim relief on each type of income in their Self Assessment tax return.
They could not just make one claim for relief in respect of both income
sources.
Similarly, for foreign gain claims, relief is given for each qualifying foreign gain (see RFIG45500) accruing to the individual that is identified in the claim. Relief is given by deducting the identified amount claimed from the total qualifying foreign gains accruing to the individual in the tax year – see paragraph 2(2) Schedule D1 TCGA 1992. When quantifying the gain on which individuals will make a claim for relief, they should consult the HMRC guidance relevant to the type of gain they are seeking to quantify.
Incorrectly quantifying a claim does not invalidate it. If an individual makes a claim for relief in an amount which is lower than the amount of eligible foreign income or gain, this means that only part of the income or gain is relieved, up to the value of the relief claimed. However, not quantifying a claim at all does invalidate the claim. For general information on the validity of claims, see SACM10010.
If a valid claim is not made, or is quantified incorrectly, in a tax return and HMRC subsequently makes an assessment, a consequential claim can made in some circumstances – see RFIG42300 for further details.
Example 1
Yan is a qualifying new resident for the 2026-27 tax year, and she has an overseas property business. In 2026-27 Yan has a total turnover from this business of £250,000 and she has allowable expenses of £15,000, resulting in profits of £235,000. If Yan would like to, she can declare and claim relief on this foreign income on her 2026-27 tax return in the amount of £235,000. If Yan does not make a claim in respect of this income within her tax return, even if she claims on the same return for other types of income or gains, she will pay tax at the usual rates on the £235,000.
Yan also has taxable profits of £20,000 in 2026-27 from a personal training business carried on wholly outside the UK. In order to claim relief, Yan must declare and claim the relief on this income in her 2026-27 tax return; the £20,000 will not automatically be relieved by her claim in respect of her property business profits.
If Yan makes a claim to relieve her taxable profits, but in the amount of £15,000, this means that £15,000 of her £20,000 profits will be relieved from tax, and she will pay tax at the usual rates on the remaining £5,000.
Claims for all 4 years
The FIG regime is available for a maximum period of 4 consecutive tax years, starting with the first year of UK tax residence after a period of 10 consecutive tax years of non-UK residence.
Individuals will need to make claims for each and every tax year they want the relief to apply to their chosen foreign income, or foreign gains, or both, in their Self Assessment tax return for the year that they want to claim. A claim for year 1 will not automatically apply to years 2, 3 or 4.
Claims for fewer than 4 years
Individuals are not required to make a claim for every tax year of the 4-year period and may not want to or need to claim for all of the 4 tax years that are available to them. An individual who makes a claim for year 1 but chooses not to make a claim for year 2 can still make a claim for years 3 and 4. Where an individual does not make a claim for a particular tax year, they will not be able to utilise that year’s claim in a later tax year.
Example 2
After living in Canada for 20 years, Amina returns to the UK in 2025-26 to be closer to her family. She is eligible to claim under the FIG regime. She decides it would be beneficial to make claims for both foreign income and gains under the FIG regime in 2025-26 (year 1) so makes the claims in her 2025-26 tax return. Amina is free to bring her relieved income and gains to the UK at any time without any UK tax liability.
Amina decides not to make any claims for 2026-27 and 2027-28 (years 2 and 3) so pays UK tax on small amounts of foreign income and gains arising in those 2 years. Amina is also free to bring her taxed income and gains to the UK at any time without any further UK tax liability.
In 2028-29 (year 4) she decides to make a foreign income claim under the FIG regime for that year and so makes the claim in her 2028-29 tax return. She does not have any foreign gains in 2028-29 so does not need to make a foreign gain claim.
In 2029-30 Amina is not eligible to claim the FIG regime for income or gains, even though she only made foreign income claims for 2 years (2025-26 and 2028-29) and a foreign gain claim for one year, because it is her fifth year of UK tax residence following her 20 years of non-UK residence. The only possibility for Amina to claim relief under the FIG regime in future is if she becomes non-UK resident for a period of at least 10 consecutive tax years and then returns to the UK following that period.