FB 2013: statutory residence test changes

Some of the changes announced on 11 December are positively unhelpful.

The idea of the new test was to provide a welcome degree of certainty to taxpayers who want to know whether they are resident in the UK – for the best possible reason that they wish to comply properly with their tax obligations. Whether or not we like the rules is unimportant; what matters is that the rules are clear so that people can abide by them.

HMRC explains that: ‘The government does not believe the test is complicated [and] taxpayers will be able to determine their residence status with clarity’.

Whoever it was in the government who held this belief should be found because he is obviously not taking his medication.

A crucial test for the determination of UK residence is...