Tax Residency by Days
How many days in a country make you a tax resident there? In many countries the answer is about six months, but some count fewer days, some use a formula, and some ignore the day count and look at your home and family. This guide sets out the residence test of 62 countries.
Part of the comparative law toolkit. It describes how residence is tested, not how to avoid tax.
Every country, side by side
Type a country to find it. Open a country for the other tests and the notes.
| Country | Kind of test | The day test |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina | No day count: ties decide | No fixed day count: permanent home, family and centre of interests |
| Australia | Several tests or a formula | The resides test (the ordinary meaning of living there), the domicile test, the 183-day test and the Commonwealth superannuation test |
| Austria | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in the year (a stay of more than six months) |
| Belgium | No day count: ties decide | No fixed day count in the law |
| Brazil | Several tests or a formula | More than 183 days in any 12-month period for a temporary visa holder; a permanent visa holder is resident on arrival |
| Bulgaria | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in any 12-month period |
| Canada | No day count: ties decide | No day count for being a resident: residential ties decide. A 'sojourner' staying 183 days or more in a year is treated as resident |
| Chile | A 183-day test | More than six months (183 days) in a 12-month period, or more than 6 months in two successive tax years |
| China | A 183-day test | 183 days or more in a tax year |
| Colombia | A 183-day test | More than 183 days (continuous or not) in any 365-day period |
| Croatia | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in any 12-month period |
| Cyprus | Several tests or a formula | More than 183 days in the tax year, or the 60-day rule |
| Czechia | A 183-day test | A stay of 183 days or more in the year |
| Denmark | A 183-day test | A stay of six months or more |
| Egypt | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in a tax year |
| Estonia | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in any 12-month period |
| Finland | A 183-day test | A continuous stay of more than six months |
| France | No day count: ties decide | No fixed day count in the law |
| Germany | A 183-day test | A habitual abode is presumed once you stay more than six months |
| Greece | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in any 12-month period |
| Hong Kong | Several tests or a formula | More than 180 days in a year, or more than 300 days over two consecutive years, for treaty residence; Hong Kong taxes only income from Hong Kong sources |
| Hungary | A 183-day test | A stay of more than 183 days in the year |
| India | Several tests or a formula | 182 days or more in the tax year; or 60 days or more in the year and 365 days or more in the four years before |
| Indonesia | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in any 12-month period |
| Ireland | Several tests or a formula | 183 days in the tax year, or 280 days across two consecutive tax years (with at least 30 in each) |
| Israel | Several tests or a formula | 183 days or more in the tax year; or 30 days or more in the year and 425 days or more over the year and the two before |
| Italy | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in the year (184 in a leap year), counting part-days |
| Japan | No day count: ties decide | No day count: a domicile or a residence of one year or more |
| Kenya | Several tests or a formula | 183 days or more in the tax year, or an average of 122 days or more over the current and the two preceding years |
| Latvia | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in any 12-month period |
| Lithuania | A 183-day test | 183 days or more in a calendar year |
| Luxembourg | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in the year |
| Malaysia | Several tests or a formula | 182 days or more in the calendar year, or a stay of 182 days that spans two years, or shorter stays tied to the years before |
| Malta | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in the year |
| Mexico | No day count: ties decide | No day count: the home and the centre of vital interests decide |
| Netherlands | No day count: ties decide | No fixed day count in the law |
| New Zealand | Several tests or a formula | 183 days or more in any 12-month period, or a permanent place of abode in New Zealand |
| Nigeria | A 183-day test | 183 days or more in any 12-month period |
| Norway | Several tests or a formula | More than 183 days in any 12-month period, or more than 270 days in any 36-month period |
| Pakistan | A 183-day test | 183 days or more in the tax year |
| Peru | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in any 12-month period |
| Philippines | No day count: ties decide | No fixed day count for citizens; a foreigner staying for more than a year is a resident alien |
| Poland | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in the tax year |
| Portugal | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in any 12-month period beginning or ending in the year |
| Romania | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in any 12-month period |
| Russia | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in any 12 consecutive months |
| Saudi Arabia | A 183-day test | 183 days or more in the tax year, or in a 12-month period that overlaps two tax years |
| Singapore | A 183-day test | 183 days or more in the calendar year in Singapore (including work done there) |
| Slovakia | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in the year |
| Slovenia | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in the tax year |
| South Africa | Several tests or a formula | The physical presence test: more than 91 days in the current year, and in each of the five years before, and more than 915 days in total over those five years |
| South Korea | A 183-day test | 183 days or more of residence |
| Spain | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in the calendar year (short absences count as present unless you prove residence elsewhere) |
| Sweden | A 183-day test | A continuous stay of more than six months |
| Switzerland | A shorter day test | For tax purposes, 30 days with gainful activity or 90 days without it |
| Thailand | A shorter day test | 180 days or more in a calendar year |
| Turkey | A 183-day test | A stay of more than six months (183 days) in a calendar year |
| Ukraine | A 183-day test | More than 183 days in the tax year |
| United Arab Emirates | Several tests or a formula | 183 days or more in a 12-month period; or 90 days or more with a permanent home or business and a residence permit |
| United Kingdom | Several tests or a formula | The Statutory Residence Test: 183 days or more in the tax year makes you resident; fewer than 16 days (46 if not resident in the three previous years) makes you non-resident; in between, your ties decide |
| United States | Several tests or a formula | The substantial presence test: at least 31 days in the year and a weighted total of at least 183 days (all days this year, a third of the days last year, a sixth of the days the year before) |
| Vietnam | A 183-day test | 183 days or more in a calendar year, or in the 12 months from the first day of arrival |
Read this first
This guide gives the general residence test in each country's income tax law, from our own knowledge, with the main day counts. Day counts and tests are reformed from time to time, special regimes and treaties change the result, and tax residency has serious consequences, so check the tax authority and ask a qualified adviser. It is not tax or legal advice, and it does not suggest how to avoid tax.
The '183-day rule' in tax treaties is a different test
Most tax treaties say that a visitor who works in a country for less than 183 days in a 12-month period, is paid by an employer outside it and whose pay is not charged to a local branch, is taxed only in their home country. That rule tells you where a visiting employee's pay is taxed. It does not tell you where you are a tax resident, which is decided by each country's own test, listed here.
What to remember anywhere
You can be resident in two countries at once
Each country applies its own test, so two can claim you. Most tax treaties settle it with a tie-breaker in this order: where you have a permanent home, then where your personal and economic ties are closest (centre of vital interests), then where you habitually live, then your nationality.
Count the days the way the country does
Some count any part of a day, some count the day you are present at midnight, some count arrival and departure days, and some count days in any 12 months rather than a calendar year. Keep a record of your travel: passport stamps, tickets and bank statements.
A home can make you resident without the days
A permanent home that you keep available, a family that stays, or a business you run can make you resident in countries that look at ties, whatever the day count.
Leaving is not always the end
Some countries keep taxing you for years after you leave unless you break your ties, and some tax citizens wherever they live. The United States is the best-known example.
Ask a tax adviser before you rely on a day count
Residence decides which country taxes your worldwide income, and the consequences can be large. A day count here is a starting point, not a plan.
Read the official rules
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