For a London family buying in South Florida, the closing date is only one milestone. Coordinating UK split-year treatment, individual U.S. residence tests and the future of the London home requires a separate, carefully documented timetable.
For a London family considering a South Florida home, the natural focus is the property: the address, the setting and the moment the keys change hands. Yet the more consequential planning exercise may be the calendar. A purchase, a physical relocation and a change in tax residence are distinct events. Treating them as interchangeable can expose an otherwise carefully considered move to avoidable uncertainty.
Start by separating four milestones: the Florida closing date, the actual relocation date, any qualifying UK split-year boundary and the U.S. tax-residence start date. None should be assumed to establish another. Buying a Florida residence does not, by itself, establish U.S. federal tax residence under the principal tests applicable to non-U.S. citizens.
For a family considering The Residences at 1428 Brickell, the purchase timetable should sit alongside the tax timetable, not substitute for it. The same discipline applies whether the search centers on Brickell, Surfside or Bal Harbour.
The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. The U.S. federal individual tax year generally runs from 1 January to 31 December. A move must therefore be examined across two reporting periods, not under a single departure-year label.
A useful planning file contains separate UK-tax-year and U.S.-calendar-year schedules. Each should record travel, home availability and relevant income or disposal dates. The purpose is not to identify a universally ideal moving month, but to understand how the family's intended timetable interacts with each country's rules.
Before committing to a relocation date, ask advisers to map both systems together. A date that appears straightforward on one calendar may leave important questions unresolved on the other. The household can share a practical moving plan while still requiring individual tax-residence assessments.
Under the UK Statutory Residence Test, an individual is normally resident or nonresident for the entire tax year. Qualifying circumstances can divide the year's tax treatment into UK and overseas parts, but split-year treatment is not elective. It applies when the relevant statutory conditions are satisfied.
There are eight split-year cases, with Cases 1-3 addressing departures. Ceasing to have a UK home is only one possible route. A family should not assume that buying abroad, boarding a flight or declaring an intention to leave automatically creates an overseas part.
This distinction matters when comparing a future home in Coconut Grove, such as Four Seasons Residences Coconut Grove, with the arrangements being retained in London. Choosing the Florida address and establishing the applicable UK departure case are separate decisions. Advisers should identify the relevant case before the family relies on a particular boundary date.
Case 3 concerns an individual who leaves the UK to live abroad and ceases to have a UK home, subject to additional residence and overseas-home conditions. It requires UK residence in the departure year and preceding year, together with nonresidence in the following tax year.
It also requires fewer than 16 UK days during the remainder of the tax year after ceasing to have a UK home. That is a specific Case 3 condition, not a general allowance for every departing family.
Retaining a London property that remains a UK home can prevent satisfaction of Case 3's requirement to cease having a UK home. Address this before building a plan around keeping London available for convenient returns.
Review the home's intended use and planned UK visits together. Do not assume that ownership alone settles every aspect of the analysis, or that making Florida the preferred address resolves the UK-home question. If Case 3 does not fit, other departure cases require separate consideration, not an improvised workaround.
For non-U.S. citizens, the principal federal tax-residence tests are the green-card test and the substantial-presence test, subject to applicable exceptions. The latter generally requires at least 31 U.S. days in the current year and 183 weighted days across that year and the two preceding years.
The calculation counts all current-year U.S. days, one-third of the previous year's days and one-sixth of the second previous year's days. Looking only at the planned relocation year can therefore miss relevant earlier travel.
Create a travel log for each family member covering all three years. A shared moving date does not replace individual calculations. Ask advisers to assess applicable exceptions and the residence start date rather than treating the weighted threshold as the entire analysis.
For a household exploring The Perigon Miami Beach, visits connected with the Miami Beach search belong in that travel record alongside other U.S. trips. A visit's purpose is no reason to overlook it when assembling the facts for review.
Foreign income and gains arising in the overseas part of a qualifying split year generally fall outside UK taxation, but exceptions must be checked. This is not a blanket assurance that everything received or sold after departure escapes a UK charge.
Employment earnings attributable to UK duties during the overseas part can remain UK-taxable. Gains during that period are normally outside UK capital-gains tax, subject to exceptions including temporary-nonresidence rules and rules for particular assets.
Before timing bonuses, dividends or disposals, obtain coordinated UK-U.S. advice. Where foreign-tax-credit relief is relevant, its availability depends on the income, foreign tax and applicable rules. The UK credit is generally limited by the UK tax attributable to the same income. Match any guidance to the relevant filing year rather than assuming overlapping taxes will automatically cancel out.
Whether the eventual choice is Alba West Palm Beach or another South Florida address, keep one coordinated file: both tax calendars, individual travel histories, London-home arrangements and proposed income or disposal dates. West Palm Beach may become the household's preferred destination without making every tax milestone occur on closing day.
The objective is a residence decision supported by a defensible timetable. Confirm the UK departure analysis, the U.S. residence assessment and the treatment of significant transactions before relying on any assumed tax outcome. This is a planning framework, not individualized tax advice.
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Begin a quiet conversationNot by itself. For non-U.S. citizens, the principal tests are the green-card test and substantial-presence test, subject to applicable exceptions.
The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. The U.S. federal individual tax year generally runs from 1 January to 31 December.
No. Split-year treatment applies when the relevant statutory conditions are satisfied; it is not an optional election.
No. Cases 1–3 cover departures, and ceasing to have a UK home is only one possible route requiring its own conditions to be met.
Yes. Retaining a property that remains a UK home can prevent satisfaction of Case 3's requirement to cease having a UK home.
Case 3 requires fewer than 16 UK days after ceasing to have a UK home for the remainder of that tax year. Additional residence and overseas-home conditions also apply.
The calculation counts all current-year U.S. days, one-third of the previous year's days and one-sixth of the second previous year's days. The test generally requires at least 31 current-year days and 183 weighted days.
No. Each family member's U.S. presence must be calculated individually, even when the household relocates together.
No. Employment earnings attributable to UK duties during the overseas part of a qualifying split year can remain UK-taxable.
No. Relief depends on the income, foreign tax and applicable rules, and the UK credit is generally limited by the UK tax attributable to the same income.
