Under HMRC's current guidance for 2026/27, if you do not file a Self Assessment tax return you tell HMRC you are leaving by completing form P85, ideally with parts 2 and 3 of your P45. If you do file a Self Assessment return, you normally tell HMRC through that return instead, by completing the residence pages (SA109) for the tax year you leave. HMRC uses the information to work out whether you may be owed a refund and how you may be taxed.

Who needs to tell HMRC

HMRC asks you to tell it if you are leaving the UK to live abroad permanently, or going to work abroad full time for at least one full tax year. The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April.

Telling HMRC does not, on its own, make you non-resident. Your UK residence status is decided each tax year by the Statutory Residence Test, based on your days in the UK, your work pattern and your UK ties. The notification simply gets your records right and starts any refund. Our guide to moving from the UK and the Statutory Residence Test explains how the test works.

Route 1: form P85 (if you do not file Self Assessment)

Form P85 is for people who lived and worked in the UK and have left, or are leaving, and may not be coming back, or who will work abroad full time for at least one full tax year. Before you start, it helps to have:

  • Parts 2 and 3 of your P45 from your employer, if you have one
  • Your departure date and details of any UK home you are keeping
  • Details of any UK salary or other UK income you will still receive
  • Your plans for future visits to the UK

You can complete the P85 online once you have left. If you have not left the UK yet, HMRC says you must print and post it. Any repayment is sent by payable order, so HMRC suggests you may want to keep a UK bank account open until it arrives.

Do not use the P85 if you will be sending a Self Assessment return for the tax year you leave. In that case, use route 2.

Route 2: the Self Assessment return (SA109)

If you already file, or will need to file, a Self Assessment return, you report your departure through the residence section of the return, form SA109. This is where you state that you are non-resident or claim split year treatment for the year you leave.

HMRC's own online services cannot be used to tell it you have left the UK. You can file on paper (form SA100 plus SA109), in which case the deadline is 31 October after the end of the tax year, or use commercial software that supports the SA109. For someone who left during 2025/26, a paper return is due by 31 October 2026.

If you are going to work full time abroad for a UK employer for at least a full tax year, HMRC asks you to complete a P85 and also file a Self Assessment return with the SA109.

Illustrative example

Illustrative example only, not a real client.

Sarah leaves her UK job on 30 September 2026 and starts work in Dubai in October. She has no rental income and has never filed a tax return. She gets her P45, moves, then completes the P85 online in November and attaches parts 2 and 3. Assuming her employer taxed her as if she would earn for the full year, she may be due a refund for 2026/27. Because she left part way through the tax year, she checks whether split year treatment could apply.

If Sarah had kept her UK flat and let it out, she would generally have needed to file a Self Assessment return with the SA109 for the year she left, plus the property pages.

Other bodies to tell

Depending on your circumstances you may also need to tell:

  • The Student Loans Company, if you are leaving the UK for more than three months. Repayments generally continue while you are abroad, based on your overseas income.
  • Your ISA provider. You can keep an ISA open, but you generally cannot pay into it while non-resident.
  • Pension providers, banks and investment platforms, which may change how they deal with you once you are non-resident.
  • HMRC's National Insurance team, if you are thinking about voluntary contributions to protect your State Pension record.

Common mistakes

  • Filing a P85 when you also need a Self Assessment return for the year you leave.
  • Trying to report departure through HMRC online services and missing the 31 October paper deadline.
  • Assuming that telling HMRC you have left makes you non-resident.
  • Closing your UK bank account before a refund arrives.

Get it set up properly

Leaving the UK is a good moment to look at your pensions, investments and estate plans together. A regulated financial adviser can help. Get in touch for a free introduction.

Sources and further reading

Last reviewed: October 2026. Tax year: 2026/27. Jurisdictions covered: UK. Rates, legislation and guidance change, so recheck before relying on this. Rules can differ between England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; tax residence is fact-specific; treaty outcomes depend on residence, domicile or nationality provisions; examples are simplified and omit reliefs, costs, exchange rates and anti-avoidance rules. This is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice. Take advice in the relevant country before acting.