Your Leaving-the-UK Plan
You've decided to go. The hard part isn't the flight — it's knowing what to tell HMRC, in what order, and by when. Answer ten short questions and we'll build your roadmap.
This free tool turns ten short questions about your situation, destination and leaving date into a personalised, ordered roadmap — check your residence, fix your split-year date, tell HMRC, reclaim overpaid PAYE, sort NIC, rent, property and dividends — each step linked to the guide that explains it. It runs in your browser and stores nothing. General guidance, not advice; an estimate, not a ruling. (HMRC RDR3; gov.uk "Tax if you leave the UK"; 2026/27.)
A plan built around your move.
It pulls your status, your split date, your forms and your deadlines into one ordered sequence — so nothing falls through the cracks between handing in your notice and your first non-resident return.
Build your leaving-the-UK plan.
Answer ten short questions about your situation, destination and leaving date. We'll assemble a personalised, ordered roadmap — and your plan builds live as you go.
- No name or address — your plan is shown before any email field
- Every step linked to the guide that explains it and the tool that does it
- Runs in your browser, nothing stored, no upsell
What is a leaving-the-UK tax plan?
Direct answer: A leaving-the-UK tax plan is the ordered list of tax steps to take when you move abroad — confirm your residence break, fix your split-year date, tell HMRC (P85 or SA109), reclaim overpaid PAYE, decide your National Insurance, handle UK rent and any property sale, settle the dividends choice, and mind the 5-year clean-break rule. This tool builds yours from ten questions. (HMRC RDR3; gov.uk "Tax if you leave the UK"; 2026/27.)
Most "leaving the UK" advice is a generic list. Yours isn't generic: an employee relocating to Dubai, a landlord who's keeping a flat, and a director taking dividends each need a different sequence. The tool reads your situation and assembles only the steps that apply to you, in the order you'd actually do them — and links each one to the guide that explains it and the tool that does it. HMRC wrote the rules. We translated them, dated them, sourced them — and turned them into your plan.
What do I need to do before leaving the UK for tax?
Direct answer: Before you go, confirm you'll be non-resident under the Statutory Residence Test, work out whether your tax year splits and on what date, and get your P45 ready so you can tell HMRC. After you go, file your P85 or SA109, reclaim any overpaid PAYE, and set up your ongoing obligations (rent, NIC, future property sale). (HMRC RDR3; gov.uk P85; 2026/27.)
The plan groups into three phases the timeline makes visible:
- Before you leave — get the break right. Check your residence (the calculator), and if you're leaving part-way through the tax year, find your split-year date. This is the foundation: everything else assumes you've genuinely broken UK residence.
- As you leave — tell HMRC. Either the P85 (if you're not in Self Assessment) or the SA109 residence pages (if you are). Never both. This is also where a mid-year leaver's PAYE refund is claimed.
- After you leave — the ongoing bits. UK rent under the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme, any property sale and its 60-day report, your National Insurance position, the dividends/disregarded-income choice, and the five-year clean-break clock that decides whether your gains stay banked.
In what order should I do the steps to leave the UK?
Direct answer: Residence first, then split-year date, then tell HMRC, then reclaim PAYE, then the ongoing items (NIC, rent, property, dividends), and the 5-year warning last because it governs your return. The tool fixes this order for you and drops any step that doesn't apply. (HMRC RDR3, RFIG21030; 2026/27.)
The order matters because the steps depend on each other. You can't sensibly claim split-year before you've confirmed the residence break; you can't pick your P85-versus-SA109 route before you know whether you're in Self Assessment; and the five-year clean-break rule only bites on a return, so it sits at the far end of your timeline as the thing to remember when you're tempted home early.
How do I tell HMRC I'm leaving the UK — P85 or Self Assessment?
Direct answer: It's one or the other, decided by whether you file Self Assessment for the year you leave. Not in Self Assessment → form P85 (online or by post, with P45 Parts 2 and 3). In Self Assessment → report leaving on the SA109 residence pages with your return; don't file a P85. (gov.uk P85 guidance; "Tax if you leave the UK"; 2026/27.)
The fork is route, not paper-versus-online. For a non-SA leaver, the P85 online and by post are equivalent — neither is faster or yields a bigger refund; the only hard rule is that if you haven't left yet you must print and post. For an SA filer, the SA109 cannot use HMRC's free online service: it's paper (by 31 October) or commercial software / an agent (by 31 January). Renting out UK property, being self-employed in the UK, or having a gain to report typically puts you in Self Assessment — so the property and director answers in your plan often decide the route.
Will I get a tax refund when I leave the UK?
Direct answer: Often, if you left UK employment part-way through the tax year on PAYE. Your full £12,570 personal allowance (2026/27) was spread across a year you didn't finish, so too much was withheld. You reclaim it via the P85, or via your Self Assessment return if you file one. No refund is guaranteed — it depends on your pay and the date you left. (HMRC PAYE94025; gov.uk Income Tax rates; 2026/27.)
Your plan adds a refund step whenever you were a mid-year PAYE leaver, and links to the UK Tax Refund Checker so you can estimate the magnitude. Refunds are paid by payable order within the UK — HMRC won't transfer money abroad — so keep a UK bank account or a nominee until it lands, and remember it's pay-then-reclaim, so the money lags.
What UK tax doesn't stop when I leave the UK?
Direct answer: Breaking UK residence stops UK tax on your worldwide income from the overseas part of your split year — but UK-source items keep going: UK rental income (taxed under the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme), gains on UK property (with a 60-day report), UK-workday pay, UK-source dividends, and National Insurance can keep running too. (gov.uk NRLS; CGT for non-residents; "National Insurance if you go abroad"; 2026/27.)
This is the honest, credibility-spine part of the plan — and the reason a generic checklist fails you. If you keep and let a UK flat, your plan carries an NRLS step (your agent deducts 20%, or a tenant if rent tops £100 a week, unless you're approved gross on NRL1). If you sell, it carries the 60-day CGT step (18% / 24% above the £3,000 annual exempt amount, 2026/27, after rebasing). If you take dividends from your own company, it carries the disregarded-income choice. And National Insurance is tested separately from income tax — so one can stop while the other keeps running.
Is using this tool — and leaving UK tax behind — legal?
Direct answer: Yes. Non-residence is a status you qualify for in statute — the Statutory Residence Test (Finance Act 2013, Schedule 45) — openly, and report to HMRC on a P85 or your return. It's the opposite of evasion: you're not hiding income or residence, you're meeting published rules and telling HMRC you've left. This tool just sequences those steps. (HMRC RDR3; gov.uk "Tax if you leave the UK"; 2026/27.)
The plan doesn't file anything, doesn't store your answers, and doesn't replace the official route or a qualified adviser. It's a first-pass map of the legitimate journey — read the whole thing in How to stop being a UK tax resident, and for the money side after you've gone, Managing money after leaving the UK.
Common questions
How do I tell HMRC I've left the UK?
Two routes, decided by whether you file Self Assessment. Not in Self Assessment → form P85, online or by post, with Parts 2 and 3 of your P45. In Self Assessment for the departure year → report it on your return using the SA109 residence pages; don't file a P85. There is no separate 'I've left' notification. (gov.uk P85 guidance; 'Tax if you leave the UK'; 2026/27.)
Do I need to file a P85 when I leave the UK?
Only if you are not filing a Self Assessment return for the year you leave. If you don't usually do Self Assessment, use form P85 (online or by post) to tell HMRC you've left and claim any refund. If you do file Self Assessment for the departure year, you report leaving on the return via the SA109 instead — no P85. (gov.uk P85 guidance; 'Tax if you leave the UK'; 2026/27.)
Will I get a tax refund when I leave the UK?
Often, if you leave employment part-way through the tax year. PAYE spreads your £12,570 personal allowance evenly across the year, so leaving early means too much was withheld against your lower full-year earnings. You reclaim the difference via P85 (or the Self Assessment return if you file one). No refund is guaranteed — it depends on your figures. (HMRC PAYE94025; gov.uk P85; 2026/27.)
Do I still pay UK tax if I move to Dubai?
Once you break UK residence under the Statutory Residence Test, you stop paying UK tax on your worldwide income — but UK-source income stays taxable (UK rent, UK workdays, UK pensions, gains on UK land). The UAE has no personal income tax, so the everyday issue is making the UK break clean, not double tax. (HMRC RDR3; gov.uk 'Tax on your UK income if you live abroad'; 2026/27.)
How do I stop being a UK tax resident?
Pass the Statutory Residence Test as non-resident for a full tax year: meet one automatic overseas test (most leavers — fewer than 16 UK days), or keep your UK days and ties low enough under the sufficient ties test. Leave mid-year and split-year treatment can apply from your departure date. Count nights, not days. (HMRC RDR3, SRT; Finance Act 2013, Schedule 45; 2026/27.)
Is this tool free, and does it store my data?
Yes, free — no gate, no paywall, no upsell. The plan is built entirely in your browser as a React island; no personal data is stored, and we never ask for your name or address. The only network call is the optional 'email me my plan' form, which posts to our shared forms service. (Last reviewed: May 2026.)