EIM43601 - Globally mobile employees: Overseas Workday Relief: financial limits and multiple employments
Source: gov.uk (2025-06-06)


Individuals may come to the UK to work and hold two or more employment positions. In some cases these may be with the same employer or within the same group. Each employment must be considered separately when determining whether the earnings for the employment are qualifying general earnings. This will impact the financial limits and the amount of total relief available.

If an employee holds an employment with an employer where the duties are performed wholly in the UK, then the employment can not be considered when determining the relevant qualifying employment income for the purpose of applying the financial limits. The employment would not have been performed wholly or partly outside the UK during the qualifying year.

If an employee holds multiple employments where the duties of each are performed wholly or partly outside the UK, then each of those employments will be taken into account when determining the relevant qualifying employment income.

Example 1

Sanya is a qualifying new resident for 2025-26 and is eligible to make an election for OWR in that year. Sanya works for two employers in 2025-26, Company 1 and Company 2. Sanya performs all of his duties for Company 1 in the UK in 2025-26 and receives earnings of £150,000 for these in 2025-26. Sanya receives £200,000 earnings for his duties for Company 2 in 2025-26, 50% of which were performed outside the UK.

Sanya makes an OWR election for 2025-26. No relief is available on his earnings from his employment with Company 1. £100,000 of his earnings from his employment with Company 2 are qualifying foreign employment income. As his employment with Company 1 is wholly performed in the UK, the £150,000 from this employment is ignored for the purposes of determining qualifying employment income, when applying the financial limit. This means the relief available on Sanya’s qualifying foreign employment income for 2025-26 is restricted to the lower of £300,000 and £60,000 (£200,000 x 30%). Sanya can claim £60,000 relief under OWR in his 2025-26 return.

The financial limit only takes into account qualifying employment income charged to tax.

Example 2

Jennifer is a qualifying new resident for 2025-26 and makes an OWR election for that year. Jennifer works for two employers in 2025-26, Company A and Company B.
- Jennifer performs 50% of her duties for Company A in the UK and 50% overseas and received total earnings of £500,000 from the employment in 2025-26, all of which are for that tax year. She performed duties of this employment on 50 days in 2025-26.
- Jennifer performs 80% of her duties for Company B in the UK and 20% overseas and received total earnings of £200,000 from the employment in 2025-26, all of which are for that tax year. She performed duties of this employment on 150 days in 2025-26.
As the duties of both employments were performed wholly or partly outside the UK, the earnings from both employments for 2025-26 are qualifying employment income. It is necessary to determine the extent to which the earnings from each employment are qualifying foreign general earnings on a just and reasonable basis.

Jennifer has qualifying foreign employment income from Company A of £250,000 (£500,000 x 25/50) and from Company B of £40,000 (£200,000 x 30/150) giving total qualifying foreign employment income in 2025-26 of £290,000. However, it is then necessary to consider the financial limit to determine the relief which Jennifer can claim in that tax year.

The total qualifying employment income for the tax year is £700,000 (£500,000 + £200,000) and therefore the financial limit would restrict the maximum relief which can be claimed to the lower of £300,000 or 30% of the total qualifying income (£210,000). Jennifer can therefore claim OWR of £210,000 in her 2025-26 tax return.

Example 3

Nicole arrives in the UK for the first time on 6 April 2025 becoming UK resident for 2025-26 and is therefore a qualifying new resident for that tax year. Nicole starts employment at a UK company which provides her with two contracts.
- Contract 1 remunerates her for the performance of her UK duties and on which she spends 160 working days in the tax year. She receives earnings of £100,000 in 2025/26
- Contract 2 remunerates her for the performance of her overseas duties and on which she spends 60 working days in the tax year. She receives earnings of £50,000 in 2025/26
Nicole can make an election and a claim for OWR in that year. Contract 1 is wholly performed in the UK and therefore her earnings of £100,000 from this contract cannot be considered for the purposes of determining qualifying employment income when applying the financial limit. Contract 2 was performed wholly outside the UK and therefore the earnings of £50,000 can considered for the purposes of determining qualifying employment income. The financial limit is the lower to of £300,000 or £15,000 (30% of £50,000). Nicole makes an election in the 2025/26 SA return and claims £15,000.

Associated employments

Individuals sometimes come to the UK to work for UK resident employers while also holding an employment with an associated employers. If two employments are associated employments, then there are limits on how much qualifying employment income in respect of those employments is qualifying foreign employment income.

More information can be found on associated employments at EIM43620 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim43620).

Example 3

Peter has been sent on secondment to the UK from his employer based in Canada. Peter arrives in the UK for the first time in 2025-26 and is a qualifying new resident and therefore eligible to make an election for OWR in that year. Peter has two employments while in the UK in 2025-26, working for Company 1A and Company 1B. Company 1A is based in Canada and is the parent company of Company 1B. Company 1A and Company 1B are associated companies as Company 1A has control over Company 1B.
- 20 days in Canada
- 20 days in Germany
- 20 days in France
- 20 days in the UK
- 120 days in the UK
- 20 days in Canada
Both employments are performed wholly or partly outside the UK and need to be considered when the applying the financial limits. There is a limit on how much of the qualifying employment income from the associated employments is qualifying foreign employment income. When determining the limit, it must be determined reasonably with consideration of all relevant circumstances in respect of the time and nature of the duties performed both inside the UK and outside the UK.