The 4-Year Foreign Income and Gains Regime
Written and reviewed by the Non-Dom Accountants editorial team. Last reviewed 28 July 2026.
The 4-year foreign income and gains regime is the relief that replaced the remittance basis for recent arrivals. It gives 100% relief on foreign income and gains for the first four tax years of UK residence, provided you were non-UK resident for the ten tax years before you arrived.
This guide explains who qualifies, how long the relief lasts, how it is claimed and what it costs in lost allowances. Whether you meet the ten-year test turns on the Statutory Residence Test, and the practical filing for a first UK year sits within our work on arriving in the UK.
Who Qualifies for the Relief
The regime is open to an individual who becomes UK resident after ten consecutive tax years of non-UK residence. You do not need to have been non-domiciled, and there is no requirement to have been abroad for any particular reason. HMRC set out the qualifying conditions in their guidance to check if you can claim the relief.
The test is about residence history, not nationality or domicile, so returning UK nationals who have spent a decade abroad can qualify alongside first-time arrivals.
What the Relief Covers
Where you qualify and claim, foreign income and foreign gains receive 100% relief for the tax year. That covers foreign employment income, foreign investment income, foreign rental profit and gains on foreign assets, with no charge whether or not the funds are brought to the UK.
UK-source income and UK gains stay fully taxable throughout. The relief is confined to the foreign side.
The Four-Year Clock
The relief runs for four tax years, and the clock starts from the year UK residence began, not from 6 April 2025. Someone who became resident in 2023/24 therefore has only the balance of the four years remaining, not a fresh four from the reform date.
Once the four years are used, the worldwide arising basis applies in full from the fifth year onward.
Making the Claim
The relief is not automatic. It is claimed on the Self Assessment return for each year you want it, and foreign income and gains have to be quantified and reported even though they are relieved. A missed claim means the arising basis applies for that year by default.
Because the claim is made year by year, it is possible to claim in some years and not others, which matters when your foreign income is uneven.
The Allowances You Give Up
Claiming for a year has a price. For any year you claim the relief, you forfeit the personal allowance of £12,570 and the capital gains tax annual exempt amount of £3,000. The policy background is set out in HMRC's changes to the taxation of non-UK domiciled individuals.
For a year with modest foreign income and meaningful UK income, the lost allowances can outweigh the relief, so the claim is worth testing year by year rather than assuming.