What records does HMRC say to keep for the Statutory Residence Test?
A flight booking, a work calendar and a bill with your address each record something different. The useful question is what each document can help you explain about your year.
HMRC says individuals need records and documents to support the statements they make when considering the Statutory Residence Test (SRT). Its examples are not exhaustive.[1] The guidance separates evidence about homes, working hours and location, and the sufficient ties test.[2][3][4]
This guide maps those examples to a practical filing approach. It does not assess your residence or tell you which test you meet.
Educational, not tax advice.
Home: evidence of presence as well as an address
HMRC’s home-record guidance looks for evidence of whether a home existed and your presence there. Its utility-bill example is specific: telephone or energy usage consistent with living in the property.[2]
For address and spending records, HMRC lists bank accounts and credit cards linked to the address, statements showing payments such as utilities, and statements indicating the pattern and location of day-to-day spending.[2] A useful way to organise these is to keep the address, period covered and activity shown together, rather than filing every document under an undated property name.
The important qualification is HMRC’s own:
“no one piece of evidence will demonstrate the existence of the individual’s UK or overseas home, with the requisite time spent there.”[2]
HMRC says it considers the weight and quality of the evidence together.[2] Do not read a bill addressed to you as a conclusion about a home or your tax residence. The address and the activity recorded on that bill are different things to examine.
As an organisational suggestion, separate documents about the property from your notes about when you were there. That leaves room to record an uncertainty instead of forcing every document to tell the same story. These folders are a suggested arrangement, not HMRC’s prescribed filing system.
Work: keep the scope of HMRC’s list attached
HMRC’s working-hours record list applies where residence status is determined by the automatic tests relating to working full-time in the UK or overseas.[3] It is not a list of documents that every traveller must keep regardless of their circumstances.
For those work tests, HMRC points to:
- The split between UK and overseas working life, particularly days with more than three hours of work.[3]
- The nature and duration of work activities. It names a work diary, calendar or timesheet, with enough detail to show hours and the kind of work, such as reviewing emails or attending meetings.[3]
- Breaks from working, including gaps between jobs and their reasons, together with annual, sick or parenting leave.[3]
- Employment contracts and communications about their curtailment, extension or other changes.[3]
A diary entry reading only “work” gives less detail than the hours, location and activity fields HMRC describes. For your own notes, distinguish recorded hours from an estimate reconstructed later. That is a practical suggestion for making the entry understandable, not a new legal record requirement.
The manual also mentions training, standby and travelling in its working-life list.[3] This page is about records; that reference is not a rule that every journey or period of standby counts as work. Use the applicable work definitions when assessing what counts, rather than deciding from a calendar label.
Records of absences are not a decision about exceptions
Within the same work-test context, HMRC lists time spent visiting dependent children under 18 in the UK. It also lists UK time owing to exceptional circumstances, what the circumstances were, and steps taken to mitigate them where possible, such as alternative travel arrangements.[3]
Keep that context with the list. These categories do not, by themselves, establish a right to deduct a visit, leave period or disrupted-travel day. This guide does not assess whether an exception applies.
UK ties: travel, presence and availability are separate records
For people with UK connections such as family, accommodation, work or time spent here, HMRC lists records showing the countries in which days and midnights were spent. Examples include travel schedules, booking information, tickets and boarding cards, including electronic tickets.[4]
Keep the travel document alongside the date and location it relates to. If a booking changed, a practical approach is to distinguish the original plan from the journey taken, rather than leaving two unexplained itineraries in the same folder. A booking record is one item to examine, not a complete day-counting method.
HMRC also names the departure date when leaving to live or work abroad, relevant visa or work-permit applications and employment contracts. For arrival to live or work in the UK, its examples include the arrival date, visa or work-permit applications, and documents about starting employment or ending the previous employment.[4] These are evidence categories here, not immigration eligibility or split-year instructions.
For homes and other available accommodation, HMRC distinguishes:
- When you were present there.[4]
- How long you owned or rented the homes, including purchase, sale and lease dates.[4]
- Periods when a home was unavailable for your use, for example because it was rented out.[4]
Keep those facts in separate fields. A record of the nights you stayed somewhere does not also record when it was available. Similarly, a purchase date does not record every visit. The legal accommodation-tie question needs its own review; this section only maps the records HMRC names.
A practical starting sheet
The table below is an organisational suggestion based on the categories above, not an official form or a complete compliance checklist.[1]
| Record group | Suggested fields | Supporting material to connect |
|---|---|---|
| Travel | Date, countries, midnight location, actual journey, unresolved gap | Booking, ticket or boarding card |
| Home | Address, period covered, dates present, what the document shows | Relevant usage or spending records |
| Work, where relevant to the work tests | Date, country, hours, activity, whether reconstructed | Diary, timesheet, contract or change correspondence |
| Accommodation | Dates present, ownership or rental period, unavailable period and its basis | Relevant property or letting records |
Start with records you already have. For each entry, note where its supporting document is stored. Leave a gap labelled as a gap if you cannot establish the detail; do not turn a guess into a precise entry simply to fill the sheet.
Keep private financial, employment and family documents in your own secure records. This article is not a request to upload them to Nomad Pro or send them to HMRC. It describes categories to organise, not a document-submission process or a retention period.
If a question about your year is commercially significant or close to a threshold, take the records and the unresolved questions to a qualified professional. A well-labelled folder can make the facts easier to discuss; this guide does not promise an enquiry result.
Sources
The four HMRC pages below show a public update date of 4 April 2025. Source text checked on 10 September 2026.
- RFIG21910: records that should be kept for SRT purposes.
- RFIG21920: home.
- RFIG21930: working hours and location of work done.
- RFIG21940: the sufficient ties test.
Educational information, not tax advice. UK residence can turn on detailed facts and current law. If your position is close to a threshold or commercially significant, use current HMRC guidance and take advice from a qualified professional.