UK Tax When Moving to Argentina: What HMRC Still Taxes

Moving to Argentina changes where you live before it settles where you pay tax. HMRC looks at each UK tax year from 6 April to 5 April under the Statutory Residence Test (SRT). A qualifying departure can split that year for some tax purposes, yet UK rent or a UK property sale may still require a return after you become non-resident. The departure date, days spent back in Britain and the source of each payment all matter.

One move crosses two tax calendars

Your passport, Argentine visa, DNI (national identity document) or Buenos Aires lease does not determine UK tax residence. The SRT first decides whether you are resident for the whole UK tax year. If you are, a statutory split-year case may apply; only then does it make sense to assess employment income, rent, investments, pensions and gains individually. Residents are ordinarily taxed on worldwide income and gains, subject to exemptions and treaty relief. Non-residents are generally taxed on UK-source income and certain UK gains, rather than automatically on work physically done in Argentina.

Argentina uses a calendar tax year, so a move in September 2026 lies in the middle of a UK tax year but towards the end of an Argentine one. Argentine fiscal residence follows its own domestic tests, including status and time in the country. A 90-day visitor stay and temporary immigration residence answer different questions from tax residence. Argentine tax residence for UK citizens deals with that side of the move.

How HMRC counts your time in Britain

The SRT runs through automatic overseas tests, then automatic UK tests, then sufficient ties if neither settles the result. UK days generally count at midnight, with exceptions including transit and limited exceptional circumstances; some days excluded from the main total can still matter elsewhere in the test. Flight records, boarding passes, work diaries and overnight stays make the eventual calculation possible.

One automatic overseas test allows fewer than 16 UK days if you were resident in any of the previous three UK tax years, or fewer than 46 if resident in none. A leaver who has already spent months in Britain since 6 April will usually exceed these limits. A different overseas test concerns full-time work abroad across the tax year: among its restrictions are fewer than 91 UK days and fewer than 31 UK workdays, with a UK workday generally involving more than three hours of work. Working hours and significant breaks also count, so neither day limit alone establishes non-residence.

At 183 UK days, automatic UK residence applies. The UK-home test has its own 91-day availability, 30-day presence and overseas-home conditions. Keeping a Manchester house therefore affects the enquiry without deciding it alone. Full-time UK work is another possible automatic UK test. Where no automatic test settles the year, sufficient ties looks at family, accommodation, substantive UK work, presence over the previous two years and, for recent residents, the country in which most days were spent. The day threshold depends on prior residence and the number of ties.

A Christmas visit can also contain UK workdays if duties take more than three hours on a day. The useful travel record connects UK days since 6 April to the previous three years' residence results, available homes, family ties and work done on return visits. The detailed residence-test guide explains why 'under 183 days' is not a general expat exemption.

When the departure year can be split

HMRC's RDR3 guidance sets out eight statutory split-year cases. They include starting full-time work overseas, accompanying a partner working overseas and ceasing to have a UK home. An Argentine job starting after departure may bring the overseas-work case into view, but its conditions concern actual duties abroad, hours, breaks, UK days and UK workdays in the overseas part and following year, as well as status before departure. Remaining on a UK employer's payroll does not settle where the work was performed.

For the no-UK-home route, the date the UK home ceases and the statutory day-count and overseas-home conditions matter. Selling a house is not required under every route, and letting one does not itself establish a qualifying case. A retiree without overseas work may therefore have a different route from an employee. Some cases take priority over others; the split date comes from the case that applies, not automatically from the flight. Where none applies, a mid-year move leaves the resident year unsplit.

Split-year treatment broadly applies non-resident rules to many kinds of income arising in the overseas part, while UK rent and UK workdays still need analysis. Gains in that part are generally considered under non-resident rules, including UK-property and temporary-non-residence exceptions. PAYE withheld before departure is not the final year's tax calculation. RDR3 case evidence matters especially where two routes seem possible or a return to Britain follows soon afterwards.

Tell HMRC, then reconcile the return

The exit file begins with P60s, payslips, pension statements, investment transactions, prior returns, a National Insurance number and Government Gateway access. HMRC, an employer, pension administrator and banks need a usable overseas correspondence address. If UK employment ends, the employer issues a P45. Continued work for a UK employer from Argentina needs a record of where duties occur and when they start; Argentine payroll, labour and social-security obligations may arise even when salary lands in a British account. There is no HMRC fee for notifying a move.

GOV.UK's 'Tax if you leave the UK to live abroad' service explains when form P85 is appropriate and how P45 details accompany it. P85 can notify HMRC and help reconcile PAYE or produce a refund; it does not confer non-residence. Someone already completing Self Assessment normally reports departure, residence and any split-year or treaty claim on the return and its SA109 residence pages instead of treating P85 as a replacement. The P85 filing guide covers that notification. HMRC sets no fixed '30 days after the flight' P85 deadline.

For a tax year ending 5 April, the ordinary online Self Assessment deadline is 31 January the following year; the usual paper deadline is 31 October. The standard deadline to notify HMRC of a need to register is 5 October after that tax year. HMRC's basic online Self Assessment service does not support SA109, so a taxpayer needing it uses compatible commercial software, an agent or a paper return by its earlier deadline. Existing payments on account and the particular year's notices also affect the balance. A P85 acknowledgement, HMRC notices, SA109, flights, home agreements, income records and evidence of work location provide a record against which a PAYE refund can later be checked.

UK income after the move

Rent from a Birmingham flat remains within UK tax scope when the owner is non-resident. Profit follows UK property-income rules, rather than the amount remitted to Argentina; mortgage interest on residential lets generally gives a basic-rate tax reduction rather than an ordinary expense deduction. The Non-Resident Landlord Scheme (NRLS) applies when the landlord's usual place of abode is outside the UK, a test distinct from the SRT. A letting agent, or sometimes the tenant, normally withholds basic-rate tax from rent after allowable expenses paid by the agent. HMRC approval on NRL1 permits gross payment, but the profit remains taxable. Letting statements, invoices and mortgage figures support the calculation in NRL1 and UK rental income.

Salary for duties physically carried out in Britain can remain UK taxable even when home is in Argentina. Overseas duties can have a different domestic-law and treaty result. Mixed workdays and bonuses belong to the relevant earning periods rather than the date cash arrives; a UK employer may need an HMRC direction before changing PAYE. Self-employment and business profits call for their own examination of where activity takes place and whether a UK trade or establishment continues.

UK pension types also differ under the 1996 UK–Argentina double taxation convention. The State Pension, private workplace pension, self-invested personal pension and government-service pension require their relevant domestic charges, treaty residence and treaty articles to be identified before a payer changes withholding. The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week in 2026/27; in Argentina it is generally frozen at the rate first payable there because there is no uprating agreement. Pension uprating is a benefit rule, separate from income tax. The UK–Argentina treaty guide covers the different income categories.

UK interest and dividends do not simply remain taxable at ordinary resident rates because the payer is British. Non-resident rules, possible withholding, personal allowances, disregarded-income calculations and treaty provisions depend on the receipt. A UK ISA can retain its UK tax treatment while the Argentine tax treatment of its investments differs; UK ISA contributions generally cease once its holder becomes non-UK-resident. The account's UK label cannot answer the Argentine reporting question.

Selling UK property or investments from Argentina

A non-resident disposing of UK land or property must usually send a UK property Capital Gains Tax report within 60 days of completion, even on a nil gain or loss. UK residential property has fallen within the non-resident regime since April 2015 and other UK land and property since April 2019. Acquisition date, allowable purchase and improvement costs, selling expenses and any relevant historic valuation or rebasing affect the chargeable gain. A later Self Assessment return may also be necessary; it does not replace the 60-day report. A UK-resident seller has a 60-day UK property return when tax is due on the disposal.

Shares and other non-property gains made abroad may re-enter UK scope under temporary non-residence rules if the owner returns. An absence of five years or less is a warning sign rather than a complete rule for every asset. A planned sale that will fund the move therefore has a different risk if a return to the UK is likely. Inheritance Tax uses a separate test: since 6 April 2025, its worldwide scope principally depends on long-term UK residence and a possible departure tail rather than income-tax residence alone.

A September 2026 move with a UK flat

Suppose a British citizen eligible for the £12,570 UK personal allowance leaves an English job on 31 August 2026, moves to Buenos Aires on 1 September and rents a UK flat from 1 October. Five months' salary at £4,000 is £20,000. Rent of £1,000 a month for six months to 31 March 2027 produces £6,000, less £1,200 deductible non-finance letting expenses: £4,800 UK rental profit. Assume no other taxable UK income, finance-cost adjustment or relief, and a 20% basic tax rate.

On those assumptions UK taxable amounts total £24,800, giving illustrative income tax of (£24,800 − £12,570) × 20% = £2,446. This is the total illustrative UK income-tax liability, rather than extra rent tax on top of PAYE already paid. PAYE and any NRLS withholding are reconciled on the return; NRL1 approval would change withholding without removing the £4,800 profit. Paying the rent to an Argentine account would leave its UK source unchanged.

The dates do not themselves establish a split year. The worker's actual overseas duties might satisfy an overseas-work case, while a retiree would need to look at other routes. If the mover also earns £12,000 for September–March work physically done in Argentina, those earnings may fall outside UK tax in a qualifying overseas part; they may instead enter UK worldwide taxation if the person remains UK resident without split-year treatment. Argentine tax starts with Argentine residence and local law, rather than an assumed deduction of £2,446 from an invented Argentine bill. National Insurance and exchange-rate changes are outside this illustrative UK income-tax calculation.

Where the treaty fits

The 1996 UK–Argentina double taxation convention allocates taxing rights by income category and provides routes to relief. Domestic residence in both countries comes first; if both claim residence, treaty residence and the relevant income article follow. Tie-breakers can examine permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode and nationality in order. They are tests, rather than a choice of the lower-tax country. A treaty claim may change a charge, yet each country's filing requirements still need attention.

Argentina's revenue authority is ARCA, formerly AFIP. Argentine tax residence can bring foreign income and assets into its reporting scope alongside a UK return. Annual income summaries, UK tax assessments, evidence of gross tax actually paid and exchange records help an Argentine accountant and UK adviser match calendar-year reporting to the UK's April–April year. Credit relief is subject to the applicable rules and limits; the same records help avoid counting rent or a pension twice or claiming an unsupported credit. The tax treaty also does not govern UK State Pension uprating.

For a short Argentine visit while retaining UK residence, the SRT guide is the relevant starting point. Longer moves bring the Argentine tax-residence rules alongside the UK calculation. A trust, company, substantial gain or dual-residence position calls for a transaction-by-transaction UK and Argentine review before assets are sold or payroll changes. An accurate departure-year timeline leaves the two advisers working from the same dates and the same receipts.