Self-employed in and funded from UK, but doing work overseas

[amanofgodforever]

Hello people who enjoy discussing tax related things online. I have stumbled upon your forum today and would like to request any insight you might be able to give me. Let me have a go at explaining my position and then I would be greatly appreciative of any advice you may have to offer:

I am part of a missions organisation wherein every member raises their own financial support to be out on the field. So, rather than having a central body that employs me, I am registered as self-employed in the UK and have a number of individuals and couples support me with regular financial amounts to be able to go out and do development work in South East Asia.

The main thing I am looking to figure out now (although I am unclear on a number of things and may get into other points depending on how this goes), is to do with residency. Since I am registered as self-employed with HMRC, and receive the bulk of my income from UK sources into my UK bank account - what does this mean as far as being resident in the UK? I am aware that residency seems less likely in terms of where I physically am, as I spend the majority of my time doing the work I am being funded to do out in SEAsia.

I have been trying to use the HMRC SRT tool, but find it confusing when it comes to the questions to do with having a job overseas or in the UK.
- The tool asks 'Did you work overseas during the ... tax year?', and then 'Did you work in the UK during the ... tax year?'. I worked overseas, funded by UK sources, so yes to both?
- With regards to work in the UK, since I am registered as self-employed, when it asks for dates of employment - should I be putting only the dates I am physically in England (in which case it seems that I am reporting more than one period of self-employment, when it is really one continuous period) or noting the whole year as being employed (in which case the tool will hear from me that I am working in the UK and overseas at the same time)?
- With regards to work overseas, when it asks for dates of employment - I'm not really employed overseas, as my funding comes from being self employed in the UK, so should I be noting only the dates I'm overseas (in which case it looks like I have several different periods of overseas self-employment), or the whole year (in which case I seem to be reporting being in two places at once)?

Any insight on this you might have would be greatly appreciated, and if I feel I'm making improvements I can ask about other aspects of all of this.

Thanks

[AmanSood]

Hi amanofgod

In terms of your residency, broadly it doesn't matter where you get paid. What matters is where you physically carry out the work.

The tool asks 'Did you work overseas during the ... tax year?', and then 'Did you work in the UK during the ... tax year?'. I worked overseas, funded by UK sources, so yes to both?

If you didn't spend any time physically working in the UK then you only say yes to overseas workdays. Also, if you spent less than 16 days in the UK in the tax year you would be automatically considered to be non-UK tax resident.