Statutory residency test - why is this so confusing!?!?!?!?!?!

I am so conufsed over this link
https://www.expertsforexpats.com/expat-tax/statutory-residence-test/

I just want to know when the earliest is that I could return to the UK and not be considered resident.  I moved to the USA April 7, 2018. Was UK resident since 2004. I don't own property or have family in the UK and have not earned any income in the UK so far in the 2018/19 tax year.   I just want to be able to visit especially for a long period over Xmas without causing chaos with my tax status.  I want to avoid having to even file a return for 2018/19 to simplify my life! I am working in the USA now and intend to stay living here for a long time as my Dads cancer came back.

I am so conufsed over this link
https://www.expertsforexpats.com/expat-tax/statutory-residence-test/

I just want to know when the earliest is that I could return to the UK and not be considered resident.  I moved to the USA April 7, 2018. Was UK resident since 2004. I don't own property or have family in the UK and have not earned any income in the UK so far in the 2018/19 tax year.   I just want to be able to visit especially for a long period over Xmas without causing chaos with my tax status.  I want to avoid having to even file a return for 2018/19 to simplify my life! I am working in the USA now and intend to stay living here for a long time as my Dads cancer came back.

If you are working full time in the us this is the key rule:
You work full time outside the UK and spend fewer than 91 days in the UK and you work fewer than 31 days in the UK for three hours or less in any given day.

As long as you meet one of the three overseas tests, of which this is one, you don’t need to go through the other tests.


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Thank you!

I came back here for a full time job.  Arrived here April 7th and started job April 9th but it ended April 30th.  Startup company, infrastructure collapsed.  I have three interviews this week so expect to have another full time role soon.  Will that be OK if I am in between jobs as long as most of the year I was working full time in USA and not anywhere else?

Thank you!

I came back here for a full time job.  Arrived here April 7th and started job April 9th but it ended April 30th.  Startup company, infrastructure collapsed.  I have three interviews this week so expect to have another full time role soon.  Will that be OK if I am in between jobs as long as most of the year I was working full time in USA and not anywhere else?

This official guide https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/547118/160803_RDR3_August2016_v2_0final_078500.pdf#page40 has a good flowchart for going through the different rules and the very complex calculations for dealing with gaps in employment. Go through all three overseas rules - you only need to pass one. If you don’t pass any, then make sure you don’t trigger any of the uk rules. Or then the other tie breaking rules. But hopefully you will be ok on one of the automatic rules


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So I cant have longer than a 30 day gap between jobs?  Is that correct?

So I cant have longer than a 30 day gap between jobs?  Is that correct?

For the automatic overseas test, yes that is how I read it.

The reason that the SRT is so complex is that it tries to cover all types of situations in a fair manner.

The starting point is that you were in the UK on 6 April 2018. Therefore you should consider the split year rules. These are set out in section 5 of RDR3.

The start of your split year may or may not be 7 April 2018 when you arrived in the US. If you have a long gap between your April employment and your new full time employment, that may be the start date for your split year. It is a matter of carefully working through the rules. Time consuming.

The reason that the SRT is so complex is that it tries to cover all types of situations in a fair manner.

The starting point is that you were in the UK on 6 April 2018. Therefore you should consider the split year rules. These are set out in section 5 of RDR3.

The start of your split year may or may not be 7 April 2018 when you arrived in the US. If you have a long gap between your April employment and your new full time employment, that may be the start date for your split year. It is a matter of carefully working through the rules. Time consuming.

Do I seriously have to do split year because I was in the UK for a day at the start of the tax year?  Even if I dont spend 16 days in the UK total year or 90 if I am working full time in UK?  Trying to simplify my life by staying out of the UK for the tax year when all this is happening not make it more complicated lol