UK SRT 90-Day Tie: Why Last Year's UK Days Can Matter This Year

Short answer

The UK SRT 90-day tie is a lookback test.

HMRC's RFIG20570 manual says an individual has a 90-day tie for a tax year if they spent more than 90 days in the UK in either or both of the previous two tax years immediately before the year being considered.

It is not a combined two-year total. HMRC says each prior tax year is considered separately.

Jetseen helps you track days - always consult a qualified tax professional for advice specific to your situation.

Where the 90-day tie sits in the SRT

The 90-day tie sits inside the sufficient ties test.

HMRC's RDR3 guidance says the sufficient ties test is used when the automatic overseas tests and automatic UK tests do not settle the residence answer. At that point, UK ties and UK day counts work together.

RDR3 lists the 90-day tie alongside the family tie, accommodation tie, and work tie. It also says previous UK residents may need to consider the country tie.

So the 90-day tie is not the whole SRT. It is one tie that can affect the sufficient ties test.

What HMRC means by the 90-day tie

HMRC's dedicated 90-day tie page is short, but the detail is easy to misread.

The test asks whether you spent more than 90 days in the UK in either of the two tax years immediately before the tax year under review.

That means:

• 50 days in one prior tax year and 50 days in the other does not make the tie
• 98 days in one prior tax year can make the tie
• the two prior years are checked separately

Do not rewrite this as "90 or more" without checking the exact HMRC wording. The current HMRC page uses "more than 90 days."

Why current-year records are not enough

The 90-day tie is a trap because the current-year SRT question reaches backward.

If you are reviewing 2026-27, you may need UK day records for 2024-25 and 2025-26. If those records live in old calendar invites, passport stamps, emails, or a spreadsheet you stopped maintaining, the review gets harder fast.

For SRT recordkeeping, keep prior-year UK days in the same system as current-year UK days.

Use the UK tax year, not the calendar year

The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April.

That matters for the 90-day tie because HMRC checks the previous two tax years. A calendar-year travel summary can split the wrong period and hide the actual SRT count.

Keep your records by UK tax year:

This table is a recordkeeping model, not a tax-residence conclusion.

What else to keep near the 90-day tie record

Because the 90-day tie is part of the sufficient ties test, keep nearby records for the other ties too.

Your SRT file should include:

• current-year UK day count
• previous two UK tax-year day totals
• previous three-year UK residence history
• family tie facts
• accommodation tie facts
• work tie facts
• country tie facts if prior UK residence may matter
• source notes for the HMRC pages used

The point is not to answer the whole SRT alone. The point is to make the facts easier to review.

How Jetseen fits

Jetseen can help you keep UK day records visible across tax years.

Use it to track:

• UK trips
• UK day totals by relevant period
• historical presence records
• notes for SRT tie review
• CSV exports for a qualified tax professional

Jetseen does not decide whether the 90-day tie applies or whether you are UK resident under the SRT.

Bottom line

The 90-day tie is small but unforgiving.

If your current-year SRT answer may depend on it, you need clean UK day totals for each of the two prior UK tax years. Not a rough annual memory. Not a calendar-year guess. A tax-year record you can hand to someone qualified.

References

1. 1HMRC internal manual RFIG20570: 90-day tie
2. 2HMRC RDR3: Statutory Residence Test notes
3. 3HMRC internal manual RFIG20510: The ties test introduction