REMEZ & PARTNERS

The 4-year FIG regime

The foreign income and gains regime lets qualifying new arrivals go untaxed in the UK on foreign income and gains for their first 4 years of residence. You must have been non-UK resident for at least 10 consecutive years of non-UK residence immediately before. It replaced the remittance basis from 6 April 2025, and claiming it costs you £12,570 of personal allowance and the £3,000 capital gains exemption for that year.

A genuine opportunity with a genuine price, and a window that starts running whether or not you know about it. Most of the value is lost by people who discover it in year three.

The ten-year condition

You must have been non-UK resident for at least 10 consecutive years of non-UK residence immediately before becoming resident. This is not a "roughly a decade" test — it is ten consecutive years, and a single year of UK residence inside that period breaks the run.

It catches returners in particular. Someone who left the UK in 2017, spent a year here in 2020 for family reasons, and came back in 2026 does not qualify, however international the intervening life looked.

The window is shorter than people think

The 4 years run from the start of your UK residence, not from your first claim, and unused years cannot be carried forward.

So the four years are a countdown from arrival, not an allowance you draw down when convenient. Arrive in 2025/26, discover the regime while preparing the 2027/28 return, and two of the four have already gone. Nothing recovers them.

What claiming costs

For each year you claim, you give up the income tax personal allowance and the capital gains annual exempt amount, along with Married Couple's, Marriage and Blind Person's Allowances.

In practice: the £12,570 personal allowance and the £3,000 capital gains exempt amount, gone for that year. Which produces two clear cases and a middle that needs arithmetic:

  • Substantial foreign income — the relief dwarfs the allowances and the decision is easy.
  • A modest foreign rental and a UK salary — the allowances may well be worth more than the relief, and claiming leaves you worse off.
  • Everything between — a calculation on your actual figures, done before the return is filed rather than assumed either way.

And because each year is claimed separately, the answer can legitimately differ from one year to the next as foreign income rises and falls.

Find out whether claiming is worth it

Send us your arrival date, your residence history and roughly what income comes from where. We will tell you whether you qualify, how many years remain, and whether claiming beats keeping your allowances — with the numbers, not a rule of thumb.

Or send an email

Free assessment first. If there is work to do, you get a fixed quote in writing before anything starts.

What FIG does not cover

Foreign employment earnings sit outside the regime. If you work for an overseas employer, or perform duties abroad for a UK one, the relevant relief is Overseas Workday Relief — which was reformed at the same date and now runs on the same four-year timetable.

And none of it starts until residence is established. Whether you are UK resident at all, and from when, is decided by the Statutory Residence Test — withsplit-year treatment potentially keeping the period before you arrived outside UK tax entirely.

Questions people ask

Who qualifies for the FIG regime?

A UK tax resident within their first 4 years of UK residence, following at least 10 consecutive years of non-UK residence immediately before. Ten consecutive years is the hard edge: nine will not do, and a single year of UK residence inside that decade breaks it.

How long does it last?

The 4 years run from the start of your UK residence, not from your first claim, and unused years cannot be carried forward. So someone who arrives and only discovers the regime in year three has two years left, not four.

What do I give up by claiming?

For each year you claim: the income tax personal allowance and the capital gains annual exempt amount, along with Married Couple's, Marriage and Blind Person's Allowances. That is why it is a calculation rather than a default — for a modest amount of foreign income the allowances can be worth more than the relief.

What happened to the remittance basis?

It was replaced. The FIG regime took over from 6 April 2025, and the remittance basis, which closed to new arrivals at the same date. Guidance describing a choice between the arising basis and the remittance basis for a new arrival is describing the old system.

Does it cover my foreign salary?

Not through the FIG regime — foreign employment earnings sit outside it. Where duties are performed abroad, Overseas Workday Relief is the route, and it now runs on the same four-year timetable.

Do I have to claim it every year?

Yes, year by year on the return, and each claim is a separate decision. Claiming in year one does not commit you for year two, which matters when foreign income varies.

Figures are for the tax year shown and change every April. They are general information, not advice — we check the current position for your circumstances before anything is filed.

Reviewed 19 October 2026.

Part of our work on uk residence and foreign income — if you want someone to take it off your hands, start with our your first UK tax year page.