UK Tax When You Move to Bermuda: The Statutory Residence Test, P85 and National Insurance

Last checked 12 October 2026

This guide is general information, not legal, immigration or tax advice. Some links may be affiliate links. See our disclosure.

Bermuda has no personal income tax. That doesn’t mean your UK tax ends the day you fly. Whether you still owe UK tax depends on UK rules, mainly the Statutory Residence Test. This guide explains the main points using HMRC’s own guidance. It isn’t tax advice. If you have property, a business, shares or pensions, pay for a qualified adviser.

1. Are you still UK resident? The Statutory Residence Test

GOV.UK explains that you’ll be UK resident for a tax year (6 April to 5 April) only if you meet one of the automatic UK tests or the sufficient ties test, and you don’t meet any of the automatic overseas tests (gov.uk).

Automatic overseas tests (you’re usually non-resident if either applies)

• You spent fewer than 16 days in the UK in the tax year, or fewer than 46 days if you haven’t been UK resident in the previous three tax years.
• You worked abroad full-time (averaging at least 35 hours a week) and spent fewer than 91 days in the UK, of which no more than 30 were spent working.

Source: gov.uk.

The full-time work test is the one most people moving on a Bermuda work permit will look at.

Automatic UK tests (you may be resident if any applies)

• You spent 183 days or more in the UK in the tax year.
• Your only home was in the UK for 91 days or more in a row, and you visited or stayed in it for at least 30 days of the tax year.
• You worked full-time in the UK for any period of 365 days, with at least one day of that period in the tax year.

Source: gov.uk.

Watch out: keeping your UK house empty and available can matter. If Bermuda is your new home, think about how your UK property is used.

Sufficient ties test

If neither set of automatic tests settles it, the number of days you can spend in the UK depends on your UK ties, such as work, family and accommodation. HMRC’s detailed guidance is RDR3 (gov.uk). HMRC also has an online residence status checker linked from the same GOV.UK page.

2. The year you leave: split-year treatment

When you move out of the UK, GOV.UK says “the tax year is usually split into 2 – a non-resident part and a resident part”, so you only pay UK tax on foreign income for the time you were living in the UK. This is split-year treatment. You won’t get it if you live abroad for less than a full tax year before returning, and other conditions apply (gov.uk). RDR3 sets out the different split-year “cases”.

3. Tell HMRC you’re leaving: P85

If you’re leaving the UK, you can tell HMRC with form P85, which also lets you claim back any tax overpaid in the year you leave (gov.uk). If you’re in Self Assessment, read the guidance on that page about reporting your departure on your return instead.

4. What stays taxable in the UK

GOV.UK states that non-residents only pay UK tax on their UK income, not on foreign income (gov.uk). So after you become non-resident, UK income may still be taxed in the UK, for example:

• rent from a UK property you let out,
• some UK pensions,
• UK employment income for work done in the UK.

Your Bermuda salary for work done in Bermuda is foreign income, so it isn’t taxed in the UK once you’re non-resident.

5. National Insurance and your State Pension

The UK has a social security agreement with Bermuda. It’s on GOV.UK’s list of reciprocal agreements (gov.uk), and the original 1969 agreement is on legislation.gov.uk (legislation.gov.uk).

What it means in practice, according to HMRC’s employer guidance (gov.uk):

• If you work in Bermuda, you’ll usually pay Bermuda social security contributions, not UK National Insurance.
• If a UK employer sends you temporarily, you may be able to keep paying UK NI instead. Your employer applies for a certificate of coverage using form CA9107.

To protect your UK State Pension, look at voluntary National Insurance contributions (gov.uk). Get a State Pension forecast first to see whether gaps in your record are worth filling. See also HMRC’s guidance on NI abroad (gov.uk) and the NI38 guide (gov.uk).

6. What you’ll pay in Bermuda instead

No income tax, but employees pay payroll tax on a sliding scale (0.25% on the first $48,000 in 2026–27) and contribute to pensions. See Bermuda payroll tax and pensions.

7. Remote workers on a UK payroll

If you’ll be on Permission to Reside while working for a UK employer, it gets complicated:

• Your employer may keep running PAYE until HMRC tells them otherwise.
• Whether you become non-resident still depends on the SRT. The full-time-work-abroad test can apply even if your employer is in the UK.
• NI under the UK–Bermuda agreement depends on your circumstances.

Get written advice, and make sure your employer has signed off on you working from Bermuda.

8. Other UK admin

• Student loan: you still have to repay. Keep your details up to date with the Student Loans Company (gov.uk).
• Voting: you can register as an overseas voter, and must renew every three years (gov.uk).
• ISAs: once you’re non-UK resident you can’t put money into your ISA (unless you’re a Crown employee overseas, or their spouse or civil partner). You must tell your provider, but you can keep the ISA open and it keeps its UK tax relief (gov.uk).

Timeline

Bottom line

Use the Statutory Residence Test to work out your status, count your UK days, file a P85, keep reporting UK income, and remember the UK–Bermuda social security agreement when you think about NI and your State Pension.

Related: moving to Bermuda from the UK · sending money from the UK · cost of living

Sources checked 12 October 2026. HMRC rules change, so check GOV.UK before you act.