How to work out your UK days for a past tax year

What’s the short answer?

Build a night-by-night list for the tax year, which runs from 6 April to 5 April.[8] Use records that already exist.

1. List every date in the tax year.
2. Add your journeys from flight, rail and ferry bookings, boarding passes and accommodation receipts.
3. Fill the nights in between from card and bank statements.
4. Use calendar entries and, if it was switched on, your phone’s location history for what’s left.
5. Mark each night with the country you were in at midnight, then count the UK nights.[5]
6. Flag any night you can’t place yet, so it gets checked rather than guessed.

HMRC’s manual lists records that show where you spent your days and midnights. They include travel schedules, booking information, and tickets and boarding cards (including e-tickets).[1]

HMRC also lists credit card and bank statements that show the pattern and place of your day-by-day spending. That list is in its record-keeping guidance on evidence about your home.[2]

Everyone’s travel records end up spread across inboxes, apps and statements. That’s normal. This page gives you an order to gather them in.

What are you counting?

Three figures come out of your record. Keep them apart:

• UK days: days when you were in the UK at the end of the day (midnight).[5]
• Days in the UK without a midnight: same-day visits and the last day of each stay. They don’t count at first, but the deeming rule can add some of them back.[6]
• Possible transit days: overnight connections between two countries outside the UK. They don’t count as UK days if you did nothing substantially unrelated to the journey.[7]

The deeming rule applies only if all three of these are true:[6]

1. You were UK resident in one of the previous three tax years.
2. You have at least three UK ties. UK ties are connections to the UK, like work or family.[8]
3. You have more than 30 days in the year when you were in the UK without a midnight.

The total is used in the Statutory Residence Test (SRT), HMRC’s test of whether you’re UK resident for tax. To see how, read the 183-day myth.

The country tie compares your midnights country by country. That’s one reason to record every night, not just the UK ones. See the SRT country tie.

Step 1: how should you set up your sheet?

Make a sheet with one row for every date in the tax year. That’s 365 rows, or 366 if the year includes 29 February.

Here’s a layout that works. It’s our suggestion, not an HMRC form.

Step 2: why start with your journeys?

Each journey fixes a change of country on a known date. HMRC’s list of records for days and midnights starts with travel records too.[1]

Flight and rail bookings

1. Search every inbox you used that year. Try “boarding pass”, “e-ticket”, “booking confirmation” and “itinerary”, plus the names of the airlines and rail operators you used.
2. Check your airline and rail accounts too. Many keep past trips.
3. Prefer proof that you travelled. A booking shows a plan. A boarding pass or check-in record shows the journey happened.
4. Note any trip that was changed or cancelled.

Accommodation

Hotel, short-let and hostel platforms usually keep past bookings and receipts in your account. Each stay places you in one country for a run of nights.

Ferries, Eurotunnel and coaches

Crossings booked online usually sit in an account or a confirmation email.

Then enter the dates

Enter every journey date in the sheet first. The nights between two journeys were probably spent in one place. Mark them “likely” until the next step confirms them.

Step 3: how can bank statements fill the gaps?

Card and bank statements show where you were spending, day by day.

In its record-keeping guidance on evidence about your home, HMRC lists “credit card and bank statements which indicate the pattern and place of the individual’s day by day expenditure”. It lists mobile phone usage and bills that point to your presence in a country alongside them. HMRC also says the list is not definitive, and that it weighs all the evidence together.[2]

Watch for two things when you read statements:

• Dates. A payment can appear on a statement a day or more after you paid. Use the transaction date where your bank shows one.
• Online spending. An online purchase or subscription shows where the merchant is, not where you were.

Use statements to confirm the nights between journeys. Don’t use them as the only record of a journey.

This is the step that takes longest by hand. Nomad Pro Premium can import bank statements and other travel history and turn them into trips. Its AI-assisted gap detection flags gaps in your record. Your first AI import is free. Premium is £4.99 a month or £49.99 a year, with a 3-day free trial. Get Nomad Pro on the App Store.

Step 4: what other sources can help?

Phone location history

If location history was switched on for your phone or account, it may place you on nights nothing else covers.

• Use the location recorded closest to midnight.
• Check it against a booking or a statement.
• Location data can be incomplete or wrong. What was kept depends on your settings and device.

Calendar and work email

Calendar entries and work emails can place you on particular days. They’re also the usual source for UK work days of more than 3 hours.

HMRC’s record-keeping guidance asks people relying on the full-time work tests to note those days.[4] These are the tests for people working full-time in the UK or overseas. See UK work days and the SRT.

Official records

You can ask the Home Office for copies of the information it holds about you. This is called a Subject Access Request. Its Subject Access Request Unit handles information held by immigration, citizenship and Border Force.[9]

What GOV.UK says about it:

• All requests are free.
• The response is due within 1 month once the Home Office has all your supporting documents. The page currently warns of delays because of a high volume of requests.
• You need a copy of your photo ID and a signed letter of authority. A request is rejected automatically if the supporting documents don’t arrive within 7 days.
• The online form can’t accept an address outside the UK. If you live abroad, email subjectaccessrequest@homeoffice.gov.uk instead.

The basic request lists examples such as immigration history, landing cards and visa applications. GOV.UK doesn’t say what travel information a British citizen will receive. So treat a request as a possible extra, not the basis of your count. Build your own record while you wait.[9]

HMRC has its own subject access process for the information HMRC holds about you.[10]

Passport stamps

Entry and exit stamps from other countries can help show you were abroad on particular dates.

Step 5: how do you handle gaps and do the count?

1. Work through the nights marked “likely” and “unknown”, one source at a time.
2. If a night still can’t be placed, leave it marked unknown and tell your adviser. A clearly flagged gap is easier to deal with than a guess entered as fact.
3. Then count these four figures separately:
   • UK midnights[5]
   • days in the UK without a midnight, in case the deeming rule applies[6]
   • possible transit days[7]
   • UK work days of more than 3 hours, if they matter for your year[4]

The residence pages of the tax return are called the SA109. HMRC’s notes for 2025–26 say:[11]

• the day total goes in box 10, with a note in box 54 of any deemed days included
• days due to exceptional circumstances are shown in box 11
• transit days go in box 11.1, not box 10

Exceptional circumstances are events beyond your control that kept you in the UK. One example is an illness that stopped you travelling.[11] Which boxes apply to you depends on the full counting rules. If your figures are close, ask an adviser.

Step 6: what should you give your adviser?

An adviser can work from three things:

1. the night-by-night sheet
2. a folder of the records behind it, organised by trip
3. a short note listing any nights still marked unknown, and why

HMRC says you should keep records and documents that support the statements you make about the Statutory Residence Test.[3]

Further reading:

• For HMRC’s categories of evidence, see what records HMRC says to keep.
• For why records matter if HMRC asks questions, see why documentation matters.
• To see what your total means in the tests, try the free UK residence day calculator.

How do you avoid rebuilding a year again?

Rebuilding a year is slow because the records are scattered, not because anything went wrong. From here, it’s easier to collect the record as you go. Add these at the time:

• the country you’re in each night
• same-day visits
• work days
• the booking behind each trip

Nomad Pro is an iPhone app that does this from daily or weekly check-ins. It counts UK days and Schengen 90/180 days. It keeps UK work days separately and exports CSV and PDF summaries for an adviser. Core tracking is free, including your first AI import. Premium is £4.99 a month or £49.99 a year, with a 3-day free trial. It keeps records and counts days. It doesn’t decide your residence status.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get my UK entry and exit dates from the government?

You can ask, but GOV.UK doesn’t say what travel information a British citizen will receive. You can make a free Subject Access Request to the Home Office. Its Subject Access Request Unit covers Border Force records. GOV.UK is currently warning of delays. Build your own record from bookings and statements in the meantime.

Are bank statements enough on their own?

HMRC doesn’t say they are, so use them alongside travel records, not instead of them. HMRC’s record-keeping guidance mentions card and bank statements that show the pattern and place of your day-by-day spending. It says it weighs all the evidence together (RFIG21920). Travel records include bookings and boarding passes (RFIG21940).

Does phone location history count as evidence?

It can help you place nights, but it can be incomplete or wrong. Use it to fill gaps, and check it against bookings or statements.

What if I can’t place some nights?

Mark them as unknown and tell your adviser. A clearly flagged gap is easier to deal with than a guess that turns out to be wrong.

How does HMRC check UK days?

You report your own figures on your return, and HMRC’s manual says you should keep records that support them (RFIG21910). It also lists the kinds of record that show where you spent your days and midnights (RFIG21940).

Which tax year am I counting?

The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April the following year. So 2025–26 is 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026. Each year is counted separately.

Can Nomad Pro help rebuild a past year?

Yes. Premium can import bank statements and other travel history and turn them into trips. Its AI-assisted gap detection flags what’s missing. Your first AI import is free. Premium is £4.99 a month or £49.99 a year, with a 3-day free trial.

Sources

GOV.UK pages checked on 5 October 2026. The dates in brackets are each page’s recorded public-update date, not the date the law changed.

1. RFIG21940: Record keeping, the sufficient ties test (4 April 2025)
2. RFIG21920: Record keeping, home (4 April 2025)
3. RFIG21910: Records that should be kept for SRT purposes (4 April 2025)
4. RFIG21930: Record keeping, working hours and location of work done (4 April 2025)
5. RFIG20710: Meaning of a day spent in the UK (4 April 2025)
6. RFIG20720: The deeming rule (4 April 2025)
7. RFIG20730: Transit days (4 April 2025)
8. GOV.UK: Tax on foreign income, UK residence and tax
9. Home Office: Request copies of personal information held in the borders, immigration and citizenship system (4 August 2026)
10. HMRC: Make a subject access request to HMRC (2 April 2026)
11. HMRC: SA109 Residence, remittance basis etc notes 2025–26 (PDF), from the SA109 publication page (last updated 28 September 2026)

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.

Nomad Pro is a record-keeping tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by HM Revenue & Customs.