TCTM02050 - Entitlement: Residence rules: Crown servants posted overseas

Tax Credits (Residence) Regulations 2003, Reg. 3(2) and Reg. 5

Crown servants posted overseas are treated as being in the United Kingdom, provided:

  • they are, or were immediately prior to the posting, ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom; or
  • they were present in the United Kingdom, immediately prior to the posting, in connection with that posting. This is to ensure that people, such as members of the armed forces, who may be posted abroad too quickly to enable them to establish ordinary residence in the United Kingdom before they leave, are not disadvantaged. Note, however, that the person’s presence in the United Kingdom must have been in connection with the posting. It is not enough for the person just to have chosen to visit the United Kingdom before the posting began.

Partners of Crown servants posted overseas

Tax Credits (Residence) Regulations 2003, Regs. 3(2) and 6

There is no requirement for the partner of a Crown servant to be ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom. This recognises that some posted Crown servants may form relationships while they are abroad with partners who do not have close or enduring ties to the United Kingdom.

However, regulation 6(1)(a), together with section 3(3) of the Tax Credits Act 2002, provides that, to qualify for tax credits, the partner of a Crown servant must either be present in the United Kingdom or accompanying the Crown servant on their posting overseas.

Whether the partner of the Crown servant is present in the United Kingdom or accompanying their partner overseas, regulation 6(1)(b) and (2) to (4) ensure that the usual flexibility for temporary absences apply to them. Such absences may be from the United Kingdom itself or from the country in which the Crown servant is posted, depending on whether the partner has remained in the United Kingdom or is accompanying the Crown servant on their posting.

Where a member of the Armed Forces is posted or deployed from an overseas base to an operational area and is unaccompanied by their spouse or partner, then that spouse or partner in the country where the overseas base is situated shall continue to be treated as “in the UK”.