Leaving is easy. Leaving cleanly for tax is something else.

Form P85, your last UK tax return and the split year: what still has to be settled with HMRC before and after you move to Ireland, and what Britain keeps taxing once you have gone.

One departure, one arrival

Ireland itself has no residents’ registration system; what you do there instead, from the PPS number to registering with Revenue, is set out under Arriving and on our page on registration and deadlines. This page deals with the other end of the move: an orderly exit from Britain.

In Britain the step that counts is telling HM Revenue and Customs, which lets it check whether you are due a refund. Which way you tell it depends on how you have dealt with HMRC so far.

Telling HMRC you are leaving

Your situation	How you tell HMRC	What to watch
You do not usually file a Self Assessment return	Form P85, online or by post	Include your P45 if you have one, or say why not. If you have not left yet, the claim must be printed and posted.
You file Self Assessment for the year you leave	Your tax return with the residence pages (SA109)	HMRC’s own online service does not take the SA109: post the return, use software that supports it, or have an adviser file it.

Source: GOV.UK, “Get your Income Tax right if you’re leaving the UK (P85)” (updated 23 August 2024), “Tax on your UK income if you live abroad”, “Self Assessment tax returns: deadlines”; Finance Act 2013, Schedule 45, paragraphs 44 to 46, legislation.gov.uk. As of: read 6 November 2026.

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Telling HMRC: the P85 or the return

The P85 asks whether you keep a home in the UK, whether you work full time abroad, whether a UK salary is still paid and how much time you expect to spend in the UK over the next three years. Answer with care: it is the first picture HMRC has of your move. HMRC does not cover conversion or transfer fees on a refund, which is why GOV.UK suggests keeping the UK account open until the money has arrived.

If you file a Self Assessment return for the year you leave, the return with its SA109 carries the departure, and the deadlines matter: for the tax year that ended on 5 April 2026, 31 October 2026 on paper and 31 January 2027 online, the date by which the tax must also be paid. Without an adviser or software that supports the SA109, the paper deadline applies.

Neither form is a tax planning step. Whether and from when you are non-resident follows from the statutory residence test, not from the form; the test with its days and ties is set out on our page on leaving the UK and tax.

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The split year: three ways out

The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April, and families rarely move on 5 April. GOV.UK says that you may be non-resident from the day after you leave, depending on your situation and on how split year treatment applies to you. The year is then usually split into two parts, a UK part and an overseas part.

The law, Part 3 of Schedule 45 to the Finance Act 2013, names the cases precisely. For a move to Ireland three of them matter, and all three require that you were UK resident in the previous tax year.

Split year on leaving: the three cases

Case	Situation	Main conditions
Case 1	you start full-time work abroad	UK resident the year before; not resident the next year because you meet the full-time-work-overseas test
Case 2	you go with a partner who falls under Case 1	you move so that you can keep living together while your partner works abroad
Case 3	you give up your last home in the UK	from that day fewer than 16 days in the UK for the rest of the year, not resident the next year, and within six months a sufficient link to your new country

A sufficient link exists, among other ways, if you are tax resident in Ireland under Irish law or all your homes are there.

For most families who sell or give up the house and move to Ireland, Case 3 is the route, and its conditions are tighter than they look. The 16 days count from the day the last UK home goes, and the next tax year must be a non-resident year as a whole. If you keep the house in Britain, Case 3 is closed from the start. The Irish side of the same year, with Ireland’s own split year rule, is on our page on the year of arrival.

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What stays taxable in Britain

Non-residence does not end UK tax altogether: GOV.UK says you usually pay tax on your UK income even as a non-resident, and names pension, rent, savings interest and wages. The State Pension is usually an exception; how the UK-Ireland convention divides pensions is on our page on your pension in Ireland.

The house you keep and let is the most common case. Under the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme the agent or tenant deducts basic rate tax unless HMRC has approved you, on form NRL1i, to receive the rent gross; either way it goes on a Self Assessment return. Selling UK property later, a non-resident must report the disposal, for a home within 60 days of completion. How Ireland treats the same rent is on our page on rental income.

British citizens keep the Personal Allowance as non-residents, claimed after each tax year. And anyone who returns within five years can find gains from the years abroad taxed in the year of return; that rule, temporary non-residence, is on our page on leaving the UK and tax.

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What telling HMRC is not

One sentence to finish, because it comes up again and again in consultations: telling HMRC is not a tax arrangement. The P85 does not end UK residence on its own, and it does not replace the real move of your life, with your family, school and everyday routine in Ireland. Residence follows the facts of the year, counted in days, homes and ties.

The reverse holds too: if you do not tell HMRC, you do not quietly stay British for tax, you only invite refunds that never reach you and questions later. Telling HMRC belongs on the moving list as what it is: half an hour of paperwork, and one piece of the picture that tax offices on both sides will later draw of your move. The Irish counterpart, registering with Revenue and the first Irish return, we take on as tax registration as a non-dom.

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The first step is a conversation

The order of your last weeks in Britain decides the years that follow. We go through it with you.

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