In this section:
- Can you claim tax credits if you live outside of the UK?
- Help with childcare costs - do you qualify?
Can you claim tax credits if you live outside of the UK?
There has to be a special reason for you to be able to claim tax credits if you live outside the UK. For example you or your partner (if you have one) may be a Crown Servant and you have been sent to work overseas by your employer.
On this page:
- Who can get tax credits?
- If you're a Crown Servant posted overseas
- If your partner's a Crown Servant posted overseas
- More useful links
Who can get tax credits?
Normally you have to live in the UK to be able to claim tax credits. The UK is made up of:
- England
- Scotland
- Wales
- Northern Ireland
It doesn't include the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.
But you may be able to claim tax credits if you live outside the UK and one of the following applies:
- You're a Crown Servant who has been sent to work overseas by your employer. You may be a civil servant employed by the UK Government or a member of the armed forces.
- You regularly travel to the UK for work as a cross border worker, for example you live in the Republic of Ireland but you work in Northern Ireland.
- Your partner is a Crown Servant working overseas and you’ve gone with them.
You may also be able to claim tax credits if you don't live in the UK, but your partner works as a Crown Servant.
More about tax credits if you're a cross border worker
If you're a Crown Servant posted overseas
When you work for the UK Government, for example, as a civil servant or a member of the armed forces you're a Crown Servant. If you have to work abroad you may be able to claim tax credits, just as if you were living in the UK. The Tax Credit Office will treat you as being in the UK if any of the following applies:
- Just before you were posted abroad, you were 'ordinarily resident' in the UK.
- You've had a series of postings abroad and you were 'ordinarily resident' in the UK immediately before the first of those postings.
- You were in the UK just before you were posted abroad and the reason you were in the UK was connected to your posting. This can apply to a single posting or to a series of postings.
Ordinarily resident
Ordinarily resident means you normally live in the UK, and plan to stay here for the time being. When the Tax Credit Office decides if you're ordinarily resident in the UK they'll look at things like:
- where your settled home is
- where your close family live
- why you came to the UK
- if you plan to leave the UK for good in the next two or three years
As a Crown Servant you can still claim tax credits if:
- you were living in the UK just before you were posted abroad, and it was your main home
- the reason you were living in the UK was connected to your posting - you weren’t just visiting before your posting began
If your partner's a Crown Servant posted overseas
If your partner's a Crown Servant working outside the UK, you may be able to claim tax credits if you:
- live with your partner while they work abroad
- live in the UK while your partner works abroad
You don't need to be ordinarily resident in the UK during the time you’re with your Crown Servant partner overseas.
More useful links
Going
abroad temporarily and claiming tax credits
How to claim tax
credits
Your family doesn’t
live in the UK - can you get tax credits?
When to make a joint of single tax credits claim
