Non-Dom Status Explained: What It Was, What Replaced It in 2025, and How the New UK Rules Work

Many people living in or moving to the UK still talk about claiming non-dom status. The problem is that, from 6 April 2025, the tax regime they usually mean no longer exists.

The old domicile-based remittance basis was abolished and replaced with rules based mainly on UK tax residence. New arrivals may still receive generous relief on foreign income and gains, but only under the new four-year Foreign Income and Gains — or FIG — regime.

That makes your UK residence history more important than ever, and harder to reconstruct after the fact. Keeping a dated record of your UK days as you go, with an app like Flamingo Compliance, makes the tax-year questions in this article much easier to answer.

For former non-doms, the change can be more significant. Depending on your residence history, foreign income and gains that once remained outside UK tax while kept offshore may now be taxable as they arise.

Here is what changed and what the rules mean in practice in 2026.

Does Non-Dom Status Still Exist in the UK?

No, non-dom status no longer provides the old preferential UK income tax and Capital Gains Tax treatment.

Until 5 April 2025, a UK resident whose domicile was outside the UK could potentially claim the remittance basis. Broadly, that meant UK income and gains were taxed normally, while certain foreign income and gains were generally taxed only when brought into, or “remitted” to, the UK.

From 6 April 2025, the remittance basis ended. HMRC now operates a residence-based system for foreign income and gains.

The important distinction is that being born abroad, having a permanent home abroad or previously being described as a non-dom does not, by itself, give you the new relief.

Your UK residence history is now what matters. Read this article, if you’d like to learn more about the difference between tax residency, domicile and residence permits.

What Replaced Non-Dom Status?

The headline replacement is the four-year Foreign Income and Gains regime, usually shortened to the 4-year FIG regime. HMRC calls someone who qualifies for it a "qualifying new resident."

A qualifying new resident can claim UK tax relief on eligible foreign income and foreign capital gains arising during their first four years of UK tax residence.

Unlike the old remittance basis, qualifying FIG does not become taxable simply because you bring the money to the UK. If the income or gain has received FIG relief, it can generally be brought to the UK without an additional UK tax charge.

That sounds similar to the old non-dom regime, but the eligibility test is completely different.

The old system asked questions about domicile. The new system asks how long you have been outside the UK tax-residence system and how many years you have now been a UK resident.

Who Qualifies for the New 4-Year FIG Regime?

You generally need to satisfy two central conditions.

You must be a UK tax resident under the UK's Statutory Residence Test, and you must be within your first four years of UK tax residence following at least 10 consecutive tax years of non-UK residence immediately before that. Two further conditions apply: you must not be a member of the House of Commons or House of Lords during the year, and you must be at least 10 years old at the start of it.

What this means in real terms is that someone moving to London after 12 years living and working overseas may qualify. Someone who has already lived in the UK for six years generally will not qualify simply because they previously considered themselves non-domiciled.

British citizens returning home can potentially qualify too. The new test is based on tax residence history, not nationality or foreign domicile.

A common mistake is to interpret the rule as “I lived abroad for 10 years.” What matters is whether you were a non-UK tax resident for 10 consecutive tax years, which is not always the same thing.

Your first UK-resident tax year also starts the four-year clock. You cannot save an unused FIG year and add it later. HMRC's 2026 guidance confirms that the relief operates within that first four-year residence window.

Claiming FIG Relief Has a Trade-Off

FIG relief is not automatic.

You make a claim through Self Assessment for the foreign income, foreign gains or both that you want relieved. A claim can be made for particular qualifying sources rather than everything.

Claiming also means giving up certain UK tax-free allowances for that year, including the Income Tax Personal Allowance and the Capital Gains Tax annual exempt amount.

That makes the decision less obvious when the amount of foreign income or gains involved is relatively small.

What Happens to People Who Are Already Non-Doms?

For many former non-doms, 6 April 2025 marked a much bigger change than it did for new arrivals.

If you have already been a UK resident for more than four years and do not qualify for FIG relief, you will generally be taxed on your worldwide income and gains as they arise, whether or not you bring the money to the UK.

Keeping investment income in a Swiss account, for example, does not by itself keep that post-April-2025 income outside UK taxation.

There is one major distinction for money accumulated under the old system.

Foreign income and gains arising before 6 April 2025 during years when the remittance basis applied can remain subject to the old remittance rules. Bringing those historic amounts to the UK can therefore still create a tax charge.

Former remittance-basis users may instead be able to use the Temporary Repatriation Facility, or TRF, to designate qualifying pre-6 April-2025 amounts at reduced rates. The rate is 12% for 2025/26 and 2026/27 and rises to 15% for 2027/28.

That distinction between old offshore money and new foreign income is one of the most important parts of the post-non-dom rules.

Old Non-Dom Rules vs the New FIG Regime

Main connecting factor
◾ Old non-dom/remittance basis: Domicile plus UK residence
◾ New FIG regime: UK tax-residence history

Available:
◾ Old non-dom/remittance basis: Until 5 April 2025
◾ New FIG regime: From 6 April 2025

Who can qualify?
◾ Old non-dom/remittance basis: Qualifying UK-resident non-doms
◾ New FIG regime: Qualifying new UK residents after 10 consecutive non-resident tax years

Duration:
◾ Old non-dom/remittance basis: Could continue for years, subject to old deemed-domicile rules and charges
◾ New FIG regime: Maximum first four UK-resident tax years

Foreign income/gains:
◾ Old non-dom/remittance basis: Generally taxed when remitted if remittance basis applied
◾ New FIG regime: Eligible FIG can receive 100% relief when claimed

Can relieved funds enter the UK?
◾ Old non-dom/remittance basis: Partly, bringing foreign income or gains to the UK could trigger tax under the remittance basis.
◾ New FIG regime: Yes, qualifying FIG that has received relief can generally be brought to the UK without another UK tax charge

After relief ends:
◾ Old non-dom/remittance basis: Old rules varied with domicile/residence history
◾ New FIG regime: Worldwide income and gains generally taxed as they arise

Inheritance Tax connection:
◾ Old non-dom/remittance basis: Primarily domicile/deemed domicile
◾ New FIG regime: Primarily long-term UK residence from 6 April 2025

The new system can actually be more generous for some short-term UK residents because they no longer have to keep relieved money offshore.

It is much less generous for somebody who planned to spend many years in the UK while indefinitely maintaining a foreign domicile.

A Practical Example: Moving to the UK Before April 2025

Consider a C-level executive at a technology company who spent 12 consecutive tax years working outside the UK before relocating to London during the 2024/25 UK tax year.

Under the rules then in force, they may have been able to use the remittance basis for 2024/25.

When the new regime started on 6 April 2025, however, they did not receive a fresh four-year FIG period. Their residence clock had already started.

If 2024/25 was their first UK-resident tax year, their initial four-year period would run through 2027/28. They may still be able to claim FIG relief for qualifying foreign income or gains arising during the remaining eligible post-reform years.

Suppose they also received foreign investment income, equity-related income, or gains during 2024/25 and left those amounts offshore while using the remittance basis. The new FIG regime does not automatically turn that pre-6 April 2025 income or gain into tax-free money.

If they later bring those funds to the UK, the old remittance rules may still need to be considered, along with whether the Temporary Repatriation Facility applies.

What looks like a single offshore investment account can therefore contain amounts that fall under two different UK tax regimes, which is especially relevant for senior tech executives with international portfolios, shareholdings, or compensation linked to multiple countries.

How the New Rules Affect Foreign Income and Capital Gains

For a UK resident who is not claiming valid FIG relief, foreign income arising from 6 April 2025 is generally taxed in the UK as it arises.

The same broad principle applies to foreign capital gains.

Former remittance-basis users do, however, have a transitional CGT provision that may matter when disposing of older foreign assets. Qualifying current and past remittance-basis users can potentially rebase certain foreign assets they held on 5 April 2017 to their market value on that date when calculating a later gain, subject to the statutory conditions.

A frequent mistake is relying on articles referring to a 2019 rebasing date. That date appeared in an earlier version of the reform proposals. The final policy uses 5 April 2017 for the relevant transitional rebasing rule.

Foreign gains arising before 6 April 2025 during a remittance-basis year are another separate category. Old remittance treatment can continue to affect those historic gains even though the remittance basis cannot be claimed for new income or gains after that date.

What Changed for Inheritance Tax?

Inheritance Tax underwent a separate but equally important reform.

From 6 April 2025, the main test for bringing an individual's overseas assets into UK IHT changed from domicile to long-term UK residence.

Broadly, you become a long-term UK resident when you have been a UK resident for at least 10 of the previous 20 tax years.

Once you fall within the long-term residence rules, overseas assets you personally own can potentially fall within UK IHT.

Leaving the UK does not necessarily switch that exposure off immediately. Depending on how long you were resident, long-term UK residence can continue for between three and 10 tax years after departure.

The reform changes which assets can come within UK IHT, rather than replacing the rest of the inheritance-tax calculation. Normal rates, exemptions, reliefs and available nil-rate bands still need to be considered.

Domicile has therefore not disappeared as a legal concept from every possible situation. It can remain relevant to historic events and some transitional trust questions. For most post-6-April-2025 questions about whether an individual's overseas assets fall within UK IHT, however, long-term residence is now the central test.

Trusts need particular care because the transitional rules are considerably more complicated than the rules for personally held assets.

Common Mistakes After the Abolition of Non-Dom Status

Assuming you can still “claim non-dom”

Many people assume foreign domicile itself still gives them preferential treatment. In practice, the remittance basis ended on 6 April 2025. Check FIG eligibility instead.

Assuming offshore means tax-free

Keeping new investment income or gains outside the UK does not protect them if you are a UK resident outside the FIG regime. The arising basis generally applies.

Restarting the four-year clock after a temporary departure

A short period of non-residence does not normally reset FIG eligibility. To start a genuinely new qualifying period, you generally need another 10 consecutive tax years of non-UK residence.

Mixing pre-2025 and post-2025 foreign income

Historic remittance-basis funds and new foreign income may have very different tax consequences. Good records become particularly valuable here.

Treating inheritance tax like the old domicile regime

A former non-dom can now become exposed to IHT on overseas assets because of long-term UK residence. Conversely, somebody's common-law domicile is no longer the main test for most new post-April-2025 IHT exposure.

What to Do Next

Start with your UK tax-residence history rather than your passport or where you consider your permanent home. Work out which UK tax years you were resident during the previous 10 years and, for inheritance-tax planning, the previous 20.

If you expect to remain internationally mobile, start keeping a consistent record of your travel and residence history now. Flamingo Compliance Tax Residency & Visa Tracking App tracks your presence across countries and US states against tests such as the UK Statutory Residence Test and the US Substantial Presence Test, and exports a report your accountant can work from. It documents and evidences your position; interpreting it stays with your adviser.

Then separate foreign income and gains arising before 6 April 2025 from amounts arising afterwards. Former remittance-basis users should also identify offshore funds that might qualify for the Temporary Repatriation Facility before assuming that bringing old money to the UK will simply be taxed at normal rates.

People with significant foreign portfolios, trusts, equity compensation or a mixture of old remittance-basis funds and new FIG should usually have their position reviewed before moving or restructuring assets.

A warning for US citizens and green-card holders. The US taxes you on your worldwide income wherever you live, so FIG relief does not remove your US filing and reporting obligations (Form 1040, FBAR and Form 8938 all still apply). It can also work against you: because FIG can mean you pay no UK tax on that foreign income, there may be no UK tax to credit against your US bill, which can leave you more exposed rather than less. Have your UK and US positions reviewed together, not separately.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still claim non-dom status in 2026?

No, you cannot claim the old non-dom remittance-basis regime for the 2026/27 tax year. It ended on 6 April 2025. You may instead qualify for the four-year FIG regime based on your UK tax-residence history.

I recently moved to the UK. Can I get the foreign income exemption?

Potentially, if you are within your first four years of UK tax residence after at least 10 consecutive tax years of non-UK residence. A claim must be made for the relevant foreign income or gains, and claiming can mean losing certain UK tax-free allowances.

How long do I need to live outside the UK to qualify for FIG?

You generally need 10 consecutive tax years of non-UK residence before the UK-resident period for which FIG eligibility begins. Simply being physically overseas for roughly 10 calendar years does not necessarily establish that condition, so your residence position should be checked under the Statutory Residence Test.

Do former non-doms now pay tax on foreign income?

Generally yes, if they are UK residents and do not qualify for or claim FIG relief. Foreign income arising from 6 April 2025 is generally taxed as it arises, rather than only when brought to the UK. Different rules may continue to apply to pre-April-2025 income accumulated during remittance-basis years.

What happens to foreign capital gains after non-dom status ended?

Post-6-April-2025 foreign gains are generally taxable as they arise for UK residents unless valid FIG relief applies. Some former remittance-basis users may qualify for transitional rebasing of eligible foreign assets to their 5 April 2017 value.

Does domicile still matter for UK inheritance tax?

For most new IHT exposure from 6 April 2025, long-term UK residence has replaced domicile as the main connecting factor for overseas assets. Broadly, the worldwide estate can enter scope after 10 UK-resident years within the previous 20, with a potential three-to-10-year tail after leaving. Domicile can still matter for older events and particular transitional trust rules.