“However local or national emergencies, such as civil unrest, natural disasters, the outbreak of war or a sudden serious or life threatening illness or injury to an individual are examples of circumstances that are likely to be exceptional.”
There may also be limited situations where an individual who needs to stay in the UK to deal with a sudden or life threatening illness or injury to a spouse, person with whom they are living as husband and wife, civil partner or dependent child can have those days spent in the UK ignored under the SRT, subject to the 60-day limit.
Mr Cullinane suggested these changes could be taken as a liberalisation of the rules, noting they were probably a response to a query around the wording, as it was unlikely HMRC intended it to be both sudden and life threatening.
“These are minor clarifications, but it’s a positive sign that HMRC have been so quick to tweak things after the update in May.”
Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, told FTAdviser the changes do seem to allow more flexibility around when someone is allowed to be in and out of the UK for tax purposes.
“This seems to address some of our concerns, although I’m still trying to digest the whole document,” she stated.
peter.walker@ft.com
