I'm on secondment from Australia. Can I claim Overseas Workday Relief?

Possibly, but check your secondment letter first. Many secondees are tax-equalised: the employer pays the UK tax and you pay a 'hypothetical' Australian-level tax. Then any UK refund usually goes back to the employer, and the employer's own tax adviser files for you. If you're on UK payroll and pay your own UK tax, the refund is yours.

I did a working holiday in London years ago. Does that matter?

It can. The four-year relief is only for people who weren't UK resident in any of the ten tax years before they arrived. If a Youth Mobility visa or an earlier job made you UK resident in one of those years, you don't qualify this time.

Do days working from Sydney or Auckland over Christmas count?

Yes, if you genuinely worked those days. They count as days worked outside the UK. If your employer is the Australian or New Zealand company itself, for example the London branch of an Australian bank, those days can also be taxable there, so an adviser should look at both sides.

Does my bonus count towards the £110,000 or so where claiming usually pays?

Yes. The figure is your total pay for the tax year: salary, bonus, and shares or deferred awards that vested. Leaving out the bonus is the most common reason people think it isn't worth claiming.

Moved to London with an Australian or NZ bank, fund or firm? What to check about your UK tax

Figures for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, checked against gov.uk on 27 October 2026. General information, not personal advice.

Plenty of people in London are there because an Australian or New Zealand employer sent them: a bank, a super fund, an infrastructure investor, a mining company or a law firm. If that's you, your first four UK tax years may come with a relief worth thousands: Overseas Workday Relief, which takes UK tax off the pay for days you work outside the UK. Whether you can claim it, and who gets the money, depends on how you were moved.

Transfer or secondment? It decides who gets the refund

Transferred or hired locally, on UK payroll. You pay your own UK tax through PAYE, so any refund from a claim is yours. This is who the relief is usually worth it for.
On secondment and tax-equalised. Your employer pays your UK tax and deducts a “hypothetical” home-country tax from you instead. A UK refund then normally goes back to the employer, and their own tax adviser (often a Big Four firm) prepares your return. Check your secondment letter or ask your mobility team.
On secondment but paid from Australia or New Zealand. Your UK tax may run through a special payroll arrangement. It's worth an adviser looking at it properly.

The ten-year rule

The relief is for new UK residents: you mustn't have been UK resident in any of the ten tax years before you arrived. That catches people who did a working holiday in London on a Youth Mobility visa a few years ago and have now come back with work. If you were UK resident in any of those ten years, the four-year relief isn't available this time.

If you qualify, it lasts for your first four UK tax years, counting the year you arrived. Each year is claimed on a Self Assessment return, and each claim costs you your £12,570 personal allowance for that year.

Worked any days outside the UK since you moved here?

If you moved to the UK in the last few years and travel for work, or work from home while visiting family, part of your pay may not be taxable in the UK. The free check tells you in two minutes whether it's worth claiming.

Do the free check

Christmas back home counts, if you worked

Working from Sydney, Melbourne or Auckland for a few weeks over Christmas is the most common way people build up days outside the UK. Three weeks is about 12 working days. Days abroad only count if you worked them, so keep something that shows it: your calendar, emails or a note from your manager.

One catch for people employed by an Australian or New Zealand company: when your employer is resident there, days you work there can be taxable there as well, because the usual short-visit exemption in the tax treaty doesn't apply. The UK relief still takes those days out of UK tax, but the overall saving is smaller. This matters most for staff of the London branches of Australian banks. An adviser should look at both sides before you plan a long stint back home.

Bonuses and shares change the answer

Whether claiming is worth it depends on your total pay for the tax year, not just salary. Below about £100,000, giving up the personal allowance costs more than a few weeks abroad saves. Above about £110,000 a few weeks usually pays, and above £125,140 almost any day abroad does, because the allowance has already gone. A bonus or vested shares can easily move you across those lines.

Deferred bonuses and share awards are often earned over several years, partly before you moved or while you worked abroad. That part can be treated differently from your London salary, which is another reason to have an adviser look at the whole picture.

What to check this week

Find your P60 for 2025/26 (or the HMRC app), and add any bonus or shares that vested that year.
Check your contract or secondment letter: are you on UK payroll, and are you tax-equalised?
Work out whether you were UK resident at any point in the ten tax years before you arrived.
Count your working days outside the UK. The free check can find them in your calendar.

The 2025/26 return is due by 31 January 2027. Next: your first UK tax years and the £100k tax trap.