Your UK tax residence status has a huge bearing on what tax you may have to pay.

If you are classed as UK tax resident, HMRC can generally tax your worldwide income and gains. If you remain non-UK resident, overseas income and gains will often stay outside UK tax, although UK-based income may still be taxable.

That distinction can make a very meaningful difference.

There can also be longer-term consequences. If you have been non-UK resident for more than five complete tax years, you are generally outside the scope of UK Capital Gains Tax on overseas assets, although UK property is still taxed separately.

Inheritance Tax is another area to be mindful of. Broadly, if you have been UK resident in 10 of the last 20 tax years, your worldwide estate could fall within the scope of UK Inheritance Tax. If not, the charge may be more limited to UK assets.

Put simply, staying non-UK resident can often be far more valuable than people realise.

This is where things get more technical.

The UK uses the Statutory Residence Test, which looks at your day count in the tax year, your UK ties, and in some cases how many days you work here.

Depending on your circumstances, the number of days you can spend in the UK without becoming tax resident may be as low as 15, or as high as 182. For many expats, the more common thresholds are 45, 90 or 120 days.

That is why keeping track properly is so important, especially if your plans have changed unexpectedly.

Potentially, yes.

There is a rule that can allow up to 60 midnights in the UK to be ignored if your presence here is due to exceptional circumstances beyond your control.

On paper, that sounds reassuring. In reality, HMRC tends to apply this quite narrowly.

Their guidance usually refers to situations such as war, civil unrest, natural disasters, serious illness, or sudden travel disruption. So while choosing to remain in the UK for safety reasons may be entirely sensible, that does not automatically mean HMRC will agree those days should be ignored.

That is where many expats need to be careful. A decision that feels obvious from a personal point of view does not always translate neatly into a tax result.

Even if you are concerned that you may now be UK resident, there may still be planning opportunities.

If you are still treated as resident in another country that has a double taxation agreement with the UK, it may be possible in some cases to protect certain overseas income or gains from UK tax.

This can be particularly relevant for expats connected to the Gulf, as countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait all have tax treaties with the UK.

So even if the position is not as clean as you had hoped, there may still be ways to improve the outcome.