Situation 06
Non-UK resident purchaser
The residence test for stamp duty is its own test. It is not your income tax residence position, and people who are plainly UK resident for everything else can fail it.
The short answer
The test looks at presence over a defined window around the transaction, and it can be met or failed by a small number of days. It can also change after completion, which occasionally works in the purchaser's favour.
Where this usually goes wrong
These are the patterns we see most often. Each one is a situation where the obvious answer and the correct answer are different.
Assuming income tax residence answers it
It does not. The two tests are different and they produce different answers.
Counting days loosely
The margin is often a handful of days and the evidence needs to be capable of being produced.
Joint purchasers with different positions
One purchaser's position can affect the whole transaction.
Companies and trustees
The test applies differently where the purchaser is not an individual.
Not revisiting it afterwards
Where presence after completion changes the position, there may be a route to correct the return. It is time limited.
The facts that decide it
If you want to know where you stand before you speak to anyone, these are the questions we will ask. Having the answers ready is most of the work.
- 01Where was each purchaser physically present, and on which days?Presence is a question of fact and is established from records rather than from recollection.
- 02What is the effective date of the transaction?Usually completion, but not always. It is the point the position is measured against.
- 03Is any purchaser a company, a partnership or a trustee?The analysis is not the same for every type of purchaser, so we establish this early.
- 04What is the position of a spouse or civil partner?Someone who is not named on the title can still be relevant to the analysis.
- 05Is any other surcharge also in point?More than one addition to the ordinary treatment can be in play on the same transaction.
- 06What evidence of presence or absence can be produced?A position that cannot be evidenced is not a position we would put forward.
- 07Has a return already been filed?What has already been submitted determines what can still be done.
- 08Is a change in circumstances expected after completion?What happens after the transaction can affect how the return is looked at.
What we would want to see
The analysis is only as good as the documents behind it. For this situation, that normally means:
- Draft or executed contract of sale
- Title register and title plan
- Completion statement, where available
- Details of every property interest held
- Evidence of any disposal and its date
- Details of all purchasers and their positions
- Any existing SDLT return and UTRN
- Correspondence with the conveyancer on the point
Questions we get on this
I live and work in the UK. Can I still be treated as non-resident?
Possibly. This test is applied to physical presence across a defined window around the transaction rather than to your income tax position, which is why people who are plainly UK resident for everything else are caught by it.
I am buying jointly with someone who lives abroad.
The position of each purchaser has to be established separately, and one purchaser's position can affect how the whole transaction is treated. It is one of the first points we would look at.
My circumstances changed after completion. Does that matter?
It can. Where presence after the transaction alters the position, there may be a route to revisit the return. What that route is depends on the facts and on what has already been filed.
Will you just tell me what I want to hear?
No. Our fee is fixed and does not depend on the outcome, which means we have no interest in finding a saving that is not there. If the original return was right, we will tell you that in writing, and you will have a reasoned position on file if it is ever looked at.
This page is general information only and is not advice. It applies to transactions in England and Northern Ireland. Reviewed 16 August 2026.