Tax if you come to the UK

You have to pay tax on your income if you come to live, work or study in the UK. Income includes:

You’ll pay Income Tax on income above your Personal Allowance.

You also pay tax if you made a profit on selling (or ‘disposing of’) certain assets, such as shares or a second home. This is called Capital Gains Tax. You’ll only pay Capital Gains Tax on profits above your Annual Exempt Amount.

You may have to pay tax on any UK income or gains made while you were living abroad if you’ve lived in the UK before.

You will not have to pay UK tax if you’re only here for a short trip - for example, for work or on holiday.

How to pay

If you’re employed in the UK, your employer should deduct Income Tax from your wages.

You’ll have to send a Self Assessment tax return if you:

  • work for yourself
  • have other UK income, for example a pension, savings interest or from renting out a property
  • made a profit when selling (or ‘disposing of’) certain assets, for example shares or a second home
  • have to pay UK tax on foreign income, for example an overseas pension, savings interest in an overseas bank account or from renting out a property

You can check if you need to send a tax return if you’re not sure.

You may have to pay tax on UK income or gains made while you were abroad if you’ve lived in the UK before.

Tax on income from outside the UK

Whether you pay tax on income from outside the UK (foreign income) depends if you’re ‘resident’ in the UK.

You can check what your residence status is if you’re not sure.

If you are not UK resident

You will not have to pay UK tax on your foreign income.

If you’re UK resident

You’ll normally pay UK tax on foreign income. But you may not have to if your permanent home (‘domicile’) is abroad.

If you’re also taxed abroad

You may be taxed twice on the same income or gains unless the country you’ve come from has a double taxation agreement with the UK.

If you’ve paid too much UK tax

Claim tax relief or a tax refund if you’re only working in the UK for a short time and plan to leave.

Apply to claim back tax if you’re a foreign national assigned to the UK and you think you’ve paid too much.

National Insurance

You’ll usually pay National Insurance if you work in the UK. How you pay depends on whether you’re employed or self-employed.

You’ll need to prove you can work in the UK to your employer.

Apply for a National Insurance number if you want to work or claim benefits in the UK, including the State Pension.

When you do not need to pay

You do not need to pay National Insurance or get a number if you have either:

Check with the social security authority in your country how to apply for the document or certificate.

If you cannot get a certificate or document to prove you pay social security in another country

You usually will not need to pay National Insurance for the first 52 weeks you’re in the UK if both the following apply:

  • you are sent by an employer in your home country to work in the UK temporarily
  • you come from a country that is not in the EU, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, or a country that does not have a social security agreement with the UK

Contact HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) or the social security authority in your country if you’re not sure if you should be paying National Insurance in the UK.

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