RDRM13240 - Residence: The SRT: Annex B: What are exceptional circumstances

Days spent in the UK may be ignored if the individual’s presence in the UK is due to exceptional circumstances beyond their control. This will usually only apply to events that occur while an individual is in the UK and which prevent them from leaving the UK.

Exceptional circumstances will normally apply where the individual has no choice concerning the time they spend in the UK, or in coming back to the UK. The situation must be beyond the individual’s control.

Example 1

Anna is returning to her home in Denmark having spent her 7 week summer holiday working in the UK. This was her first visit to the UK.

On her boat journey home there is an explosion in the engine room. Emergency rescue services attend the vessel, and Anna is found unconscious and badly burned. The emergency services make the decision to airlift Anna to a specialist burns unit in the UK, where she remains for 5 months. Anna returns to Denmark as soon as she is discharged from hospital.

Anna has been in the UK for 202 days.

The disaster would be considered to be an exceptional circumstance beyond Anna’s control. However, the maximum number of days that can be ignored towards days spent in the UK is 60. So Anna has 142 days which count as days spent in the UK.

The type of events which may give rise to exceptional circumstances will be, by their nature, out of the ordinary and it is difficult to be prescriptive about what characteristics such an event would exhibit. However, local or national emergencies, such as civil unrest, natural disasters, the outbreak of war or a sudden serious or life threatening illness or injury to an individual are examples of circumstances that are likely to be exceptional.

There may also be limited situations where an individual who needs to stay in the UK to deal with a sudden or life threatening illness or injury to a spouse, person who they are living with as husband and wife, civil partner or dependent child; can have those days spent in the UK ignored under the SRT, subject to the 60 day limit.

There may also be limited situations where an individual who comes back to the UK to deal with a sudden or life threatening illness or injury to a partner or dependent child, can have those days spent in the UK ignored under the SRT subject to the 60 day limit.

Example 2(a)

Henrik is working in the construction industry and lives in Germany. He has business interests in the UK and has spent 68 days working here in the current tax year. He is a lone parent and his children usually live in the family home in Germany with him.

Henrik sends Victoria, his 13 year-old daughter, for a 2 week holiday at a UK summer holiday camp. Whilst undertaking one of the activities she has an accident and is taken to hospital with a suspected major neck injury. Henrik immediately travels to the UK, to be with his daughter and arranges for her to be moved back to Germany as soon as possible. This happens 3 days after the incident. Victoria remains in hospital in Germany for a further 4 weeks.

The 3 days Henrik spends in the UK with his daughter arranging her transfer, after this potentially life threatening accident, would count as exceptional circumstances.

Example 2(b)

A similar judgement would be applied had Henrik and his daughter been in the UK when the accident had occurred. If Henrik stays with his daughter beyond their planned return date, until she can be transferred back to Germany, the additional days where he is present at midnight would count as exceptional circumstances.

Had Henrik chosen not to arrange for his daughter to be transferred to a German hospital, and had elected to stay in the UK until she was released from hospital here, the additional time spent in the UK would not be considered as exceptional circumstances.

In order to be ignored as days spent in the UK, there must be exceptional circumstances beyond the control of the individual. In other words, the event or situation in question must be one over which the individual has no control or influence, and which cannot reasonably have been foreseen.

For example, if an individual is a passenger on a commercial aircraft that is forced to make an emergency landing in the UK, and there is no available onward flight to their original destination for 2 days afterwards. The 2 days that would otherwise count as time spent in the UK would be ignored due to exceptional circumstances.

Example 3

Claude is retired and came to the UK for the first time on 1 June for a 5 month extended travelling holiday, intending to leave on 31 October.

On 29 September while travelling to Scotland Claude is involved in a car crash, suffering multiple injuries. He is in hospital for a total of 14 weeks and arranges to travel back to his home in France on the day he is discharged.

Claude has been in the UK for 220 days.

Claude spent 14 weeks in hospital, but because his original intention was to stay in the UK until 31 October, only the days from 1 November up to the date of discharge can be ignored due to exceptional circumstances.

The maximum number of days in the tax year that can be ignored is 60. In this scenario Claude has 160 days counted as a day of presence in the UK.

For days spent in the UK due to exceptional circumstances to be ignored, an individual must intend to leave the UK as soon as those circumstances permit. If an individual does leave the UK once the exceptional circumstances have ended, HMRC will usually accept this as evidence of such an intention.

Example 4

The circumstances are the same as example 3.

However, Claude’s nephew, who lives in Wales, writes to him in hospital and suggests Claude should stay with him when Claude leaves hospital. Claude writes back on 1 December agreeing.

From 1 December it is no longer Claude’s intention to leave the UK as soon as the exceptional circumstances have come to an end; and so only the period 1 November to 30 November can be discounted as exceptional circumstances for SRT day counting purposes.