SA109 Split Year Type and Date Question

[UKtoTO]

Hi All,

I am filling in the residency supplementary page (SA109) of the UK tax return and I just have two questions about both the split year type and date applicable to my situation. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

With regards to the 2016-17 tax year, I was initially resident in the UK and left on 14th October 2016 to go to Canada on a two year working holiday permit. I have been resident in the UK for all previous tax years. I had no job lined up prior to going and after a job hunt, began work on 3rd January 2017.

I have done the HMRC statutory residency test and come up 'resident'. I also meet the split year criteria, so my tax situation will be that I am classed as resident from 6th April 2016 to 13th October 2016 and non-resident from 14th October 2016 to 5th April 2017 for tax purposes.

So my questions are:

1. Which split year case is most appropriate. I both left the UK to work overseas (Case 1) and left my UK home (Case 3). I know Case 1 has priority if both apply, but would it matter that I did not have a job lined up when leaving the country and instead found one once there?

2. If Case 1 is the appropriate choice, what should I then enter for the question 'the date from which the UK part of the year ends'? My initial thought was simply the 13th of October 2016, as that was my last full day in the UK. However, having read the guidance notes and the relevant sections of the RDR documents, it seems to be more complex than that, with a calculation needed in order to figure out if I meet 'overseas work criteria for a relevant period'. I punched in the numbers, and when using the period of 3rd January 2017 (when I began work) to the end of the tax year, I met the criteria with an outcome that was over 35. When I used the starting date of 13th October 2016 however, I did not reach the criteria, I guess due to the three month gap where I was looking for work initially. Would this mean that I would need to enter the 2nd of January 2017 as the date that my UK part of the year ends? Or am I missing something and can put October 13th 2016 after all? There are a lot of notes to accompany what sounds like an easy question!

Thanks again!

[maths]

Case 1 has priority.

First day of split year under Case 1 is 3 January 2017.

Last day is 2 January 2017.

Hence you will be resident up to and including 2 January 2017.

Case 1 also requires that the 3rd automatic overseas test is satisfied for tax year 2017/18.

[UKtoTO]

Thanks for your help maths, that has confirmed what I thought was the case after going through the RDR notes, so a big help!

For the third automatic overseas test, I would pass it for the tax year 2017-18, so that should be fine.

For the SA109 form I am currently filling in, question 7 is 'Do you pass the third automatic overseas test?'. I assume this question is asking if I met the criteria in the 2016-17 tax year? Does having a split year affect the timeframe that this question applies to, i.e. only the non-resident period, or is it always the whole tax year?

Thanks.

[UKtoTO]

Actually, going back to what you mentioned in your post about meeting the third automatic overseas test for 2017-18 - one of the criteria is that I would need to meet the overseas work criteria over the tax year without any significant breaks. A significant break is outlined as 31 days without working. Do you know, if I were to decide to leave my job before the end of the 2017-18 tax year, for example in February, and not work again during the remaining period of the tax year, would this automatically fail me for the third automatic overseas test? It feels as though it shouldn't as I would have worked full-time for the vast majority of the year, but I'm unsure!

Thanks again!

[maths]

I assume this question is asking if I met the criteria in the 2016-17 tax year?

Correct. So your answer is that you do not satisfy it for 16/17.

[maths]

The "significant break" test would apply if you ended your contract in say February 2018 and between that date and 5 April 2018 you failed to work for more than 3 hours overseas per day for 31 successive days (ignoring sickness; annual leave etc).