The new regime for foreign income and capital gains
4-year FIG regime
From 6 April 2025, all UK residents will be taxed on the arising basis of assessment. A new regime for FIG will be available to individuals for their first four years of UK tax residenceafter a period of 10 years non-residence. Individuals who make a claim to use the new 4- year FIG regime will not pay tax on FIG arising in those four years.
A claim for the 4-year FIG regime will be treated as a claim to relief for tax purposes and will need to be made in a Self-Assessment tax return. A claim will need to be made before 31 January in the second tax year after the relevant year to which the claim relates. For example, a claim for the 4-year FIG regime for the 2025 to 2026 tax year will need to be made on or before 31 January 2028.
To claim the 4-year FIG regime, individuals will need to quantify the amount of income and gains for which relief is being claimed under the regime. If amounts of FIG are not quantified and included in the return, then individuals will remain chargeable and subject to tax at their usual rates.
Individuals will not need to make a claim for every year of the 4-year period. For example, an individual who makes a claim in year 1 but chooses not to make a claim for year 2, can still make a claim for years 3 and 4. Where an individual does not make a claim for a tax year, they will not be able to roll that year over to a later year. The 4-year FIG regime is only available for a maximum period of 4 consecutive tax years, in the first 4 years of UK tax residence.
The 4-year FIG regime will only be available for individuals that are both UK resident and are within their first four years of UK tax residence, following a period of at least ten consecutive years of non-UK residence. This includes UK nationals and UK domiciled individuals who may not have previously had access to, or used, the remittance basis.
An individual’s ability to qualify for the 4-year FIG regime will be determined by whether they are UK resident under the Statutory Residence Test (SRT). An individual cannot qualify if they have been UK resident under the SRT in any of the 10 years prior to arrival (for tax years 2013 to 2014 onwards). Treaty residence elsewhere under a Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) tie-breaker will not be relevant for the purpose of determining eligibility. The DTA would not enable an individual to be treated as non-UK resident for the purposes of qualifying for the 4-year FIG regime.
For example, if an individual was non-UK resident under the SRT in 2015 to 2016 and remained non-UK resident under the SRT for ten tax years before arriving in the UK, they will be eligible to use the 4-year FIG regime from 2025 to 2026 onwards, regardless of their nationality or domicile status.
If a tax year within the 4-year period is a split year under the SRT, this will still count as a full year of UK residence for the purposes of the 4-year FIG regime.
If an individual had a period of ten consecutive years of non-UK residence prior to their arrival in the UK and is still within their first four years of UK tax residence under the SRT on 6 April 2025, they can access the 4-year FIG regime until they have exceeded the four-year period. For example, if an individual was UK resident in the 2022 to 2023 tax year after a period of non-UK residence in the ten tax years between 2012 to 2013 and 2021 to 2022, then they could still claim the 4 year-FIG regime in the 2025 to 2026 tax year for one final year. This is because 2025 to 2026 would be within four tax years after a period of ten years consecutive non-residence. For the 2012 to 2013 tax year, the pre-SRT rules will apply. See HMRC6 for further details.
If an individual leaves the UK temporarily during the four-year period, they can claim the 4- year FIG regime for any of the qualifying tax years remaining on their return to the UK. For example, if someone is not UK tax resident in years 2 and 3 but becomes UK tax resident again for year 4, they can claim the 4-year FIG regime for year 4. They would not be able to claim the 4-year FIG in year 5 as it would not be with a period of 4 years following a period of 10 years non-resident.
Remittance basis users who leave the UK and return after a period of ten tax years can only claim the 4-year FIG regime for any new FIG that arises within their 4-year FIG regime period. They cannot claim for any FIG they remit during the 4-year FIG regime period that relates to a year in which they were taxed on the remittance basis. They may, however, be able to use the TRF if their year of return is during the period the TRF is available.
Foreign income and gains that the 4-year FIG regime applies to
The types of foreign income that will be relieved from tax as part of the 4-year FIG regime are similar to those currently taxed on the remittance basis, and will be:
Accrued income profits
Adjusted income
Annual payments not otherwise charged
Certain telecommunication rights: non-trading income
Certain types of pension income
Dividends
Estate income
Films and sounds recordings: non-trading business
Foreign deemed income under the Transfer of Assets Abroad provisions
Foreign income arising under a settlement charged under the SettlementsLegislation
Income-based carried interest (IBCI) that arises by virtue of pre-arrival services
Income not otherwise charged
Interest
Offshore income gains
Partnership income
Profits from deeply discounted securities
Property business profits
Purchased life annuity payments
Royalties and other income from intellectual property
Trade profits
The foreign proportion of certain income received from a Qualifying Asset HoldingCompany by an individual performing investment management services
作為4年FIG計劃一部分免稅的外國收入類型類似於目前按匯款基礎課稅的收入,將包括:
應計收入利潤
調整後收入
未另行課稅的年度付款
特定電信權利:非交易收入
某些類型的養老金收入
股息
遺產收入
影片和音像製品:非交易業務
根據《海外資產轉讓條例》產生的外國視同收入
根據《信託法》課稅的結算中產生的外國收入
因抵達前服務而產生的基於收入的收益(IBCI)
未另行課稅的收入
利息
離岸收入收益
合夥收入
深度折扣證券的利潤
房地產業務利潤
購買人壽年金支付
特許權使用費及其他知識產權收入
貿易利潤
個人在執行投資管理服務時從合資格資產控股公司收到的某些收入的外國部分。
The foreign income that will not be relievable under the 4-year FIG regime will be:
Foreign employment income paid through third parties
Income from pensions paid under the Overseas Pensions Act 1973
Income paid in connection with foreign securities received in exchange for UK
securities
Payments from UK-tax relieved funds within relevant non-UK pension schemes
Profits from sale of foreign dividend coupons
Profits of certain disposals concerned with land in the UK treated as trading profits
Unremittable income: charged on withdrawal of relief after source ceases, section
844 Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005.
Offshore life insurance policies and investment bonds subject to chargeable event
gains whether the policy is a personal portfolio bond or not.