Peter Vaines solves the mysteries of what constitutes “full-time work abroad” & celebrates the renaissance of the Ramsay doctrine
During the Davies & James, and Gaines-Cooper litigation, HMRC confirmed their practice that a person may become non-resident (without the need to make any distinct break, sever their family or social ties, or anything else) if they leave the UK to work full-time abroad, providing the work lasts for at least a whole tax year and their visits to the UK do not exceed 90 days on average during their period of absence.
It is obviously very important to identify the meaning of “full-time work abroad” in this context, and HMRC have now published their revised view on the subject. Appropriate amendments are to be made to HMRC6. The following points are helpful:
It must be a genuine full-time employment—possibly with a foreign employer or a formal secondment to a non-UK position of a UK employer.
It needs to involve working equivalent hours to full-time foreign employees at the same level and in the same line of business in the country concerned. As a general
