Jon Golding looks at the statutory residence test threshold for longer stays in the UK beyond allowed residence periods.
The ‘luck of the Irish’ (to quote a popular expression) contributed by a recent Court of Appeal's decision concerning the statutory residence test (SRT) also has UK/Irish tax implications.
Background
For the 2015/16 tax year, ‘A Taxpayer’ (anonymised by the Court) declared herself a non-UK tax resident on her self-assessment return, having moved to Ireland on 4 April 2015. In spite of this, the taxpayer had to travel regularly from Ireland to the UK by private jet while non-UK resident to support her ailing UK resident twin sister with her family issues. This resulted in her exceeding her 45-day SRT limit by a few days.
On appeal, the taxpayer claimed the ‘exceptional circumstances’ exemption
