UK Statutory Residence Test: how the midnight rule counts your days

The UK’s Statutory Residence Test (SRT) decides whether you are UK tax resident for a tax year. It came into effect on 6 April 2013, and each tax year is assessed separately. The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April.

The simplest part: 183 days

One of the automatic UK tests is spending 183 days or more in the UK in the tax year. Meeting it makes you UK resident for that year.

What counts as a day

For the SRT, a day is generally counted if you are present in the UK at midnight at the end of that day. That has a practical effect:

• The day you arrive counts (you are in the UK at the end of it).
• The day you leave does not count (you are gone by midnight).
• A short visit that begins and ends in the same day usually leaves no midnight in the UK.

What a simple counter leaves out

A day-count tool shows the midnight total, but the SRT has more to it:

• The transit exception can affect days when you are passing through the UK.
• The deeming rule can count some days you were in the UK but not at midnight, in certain circumstances, when you have significant UK ties.
• The automatic overseas tests, the automatic UK tests and the sufficient-ties test involve work, home and family connections, not only days. The tie-based tests use the day count together with your ties.

That is why the DayCount EU counter and the free UK tool are indicators of your midnight days only. They do not give an SRT result.

Keep the right records

Dated travel records (tickets, boarding passes) are the evidence for days. Keep them for the tax years you may need to explain.

Indicator only: not tax advice. Last reviewed 28 October 2026. For your own situation talk to a qualified adviser or read the official guidance.

Sources

• GOV.UK: RDR3 Statutory Residence Test notes

Related

• UK SRT day counter
• Schengen days vs tax days

Planning aid, not legal or tax advice. Border authorities' records are authoritative.