Self assessment when coming to the UK from abroad halfway through the tax year?

Dear sir/madam, I moved to the UK from Germany per 01 September. My only income is from wages on which I paid tax through PAYE (Tax Code 1257L wk1mth1). From April - August 2022, I was an employee and paid income tax in Germany. So I have 5 months of employment in Germany, and 7 months of employment in England. Do I have to send a self assessment tax return? If I do the online questionaire "Check if you need to send a Self Assessment tax return ", question 6 is the only one mentioning foreign income, but the question "Do you need to pay tax on any of the following? --> Income from outside the UK" would make me answer "No", because this income is already taxed in Germany, so I believe I should not be paying tax on that here. This made me believe I didn't need to send an SA, but now I'm not so sure. Because I thought a self assessment was unnecessary, I also claimed WFH tax relief online, which I now think may complicate my situation.

Hi,

If you qualify for split year then you only report any foreign income for the UK part of the year. You can see guidance here:

RDRM12000 - Residence: The SRT: Split year treatment

If you do not qualify then you will need to report all your foreign income to the UK. You can see more information here:

Tax on foreign income

The following guidance will help you work out if split year treatment applies: 

RDRM12150 - Residence: The SRT: Split year treatment: Case 4: Starting to have a home in the UK only

Thank you.

Hi HMRC Admin, Thank you for your reply. So you are saying I indeed have to send a self assessment tax return due to moving to the UK halfway through the tax year? Because I called HMRC last week to ask the same question and they advised I don't have to send a self assessment (although I'm on the fence on that and I expect a call back from the technical department). How can I take these "only home test" and "sufficient ties test"? To clarify: - I lived in Germany from 01 August 2015 up until and including 31 August 2022. - My UK visa is valid from 04 August 2022, I entered the UK on that date in order to find a home to rent. - My rent start date is, and I pay council tax from 19 August 2022, however, we didn't collect the keys until 24 August - I officially deregistered with the German city council and the German tax and social insurance authorities per 31 August 2022 - My rental agreement in Germany ended 31 October 2022, however, I handed in the keys on 19 September 2022 I was in the UK from 04-12 August (home searching), from 23-31 August (key collection and moving in), and from 20 September onwards (final move) . I have been abroad for holidays and family visits since then (17-28 December and 10-19 March). If I count from 04 August, I was in the UK (including travel days) for 193 days in the 2022/23 tax year, but I'm not sure if I have to count from 04 August, 23 August or 20 September?

Hi,

Guidance on residence test can be found here

RDR3 Statutory Residence Test

The test must be applied to determine if split year treatment applies or not.  We cannot advise you of the outcome of taking the tests in this forum.  You will need to complete a self assessment tax return to:-
1) Claim split year treatment 
2) Declare foreign income and gains
3) Use the remittance basis

Thank you.