For the vast majority of people, what I wrote is entirely true. Yes, it’s complicated and some people will have exceptional circumstances. But most of the more complex tests on the page you list are for people who want to prove they are UK tax resident, not that they’re not!

Not really, if you spend 120-183 days in the UK, to not be a tax resident, you'd need to not have family there, not have a house/hotel for more than 90 days, nor work there for more than 40 days, nor have spent more than 90 days there the year prior and you'd need to have spent more time in another country. It's a lot of conditions!

The same with Canada. Technically we have a similar residence requirement as far as number of days present is concerned. However try convincing the CRA that you're not a tax resident is far more difficult.

The CRA want some sort of document detailing that you are a tax resident elsewhere which is difficult to obtain if you are mobile between several countries.

It's cool that Costa Rica is doing this though. It legitimises what people have already been doing illegally.

It's easy for someone who's not tax resident to pass a non-tax residency test? Isn't that a tautology? ;)

Your understanding of what is a family test isn't correct either. If you have a boyfriend/girlfriend and you spend enough time together, you will be considered as "living as spouses or civil partners" and that would prevent you from passing the family test. The burden of proof would be on you to prove you that you're not that close to your partner to pass the test. And by the way, if your bf/gf owns or rent a place in the UK in which you spent a single night, HMRC would consider you have an accommodation in the UK.

There are solicitors who make a living solely on individual tax residency because it is way more complex than spending >183 days in the UK.

> "It's easy for someone who's not tax resident to pass a non-tax residency test? Isn't that a tautology? ;)"

The point is that if you have enough wealth to make achieving non-tax residency desirable, then most of the time you will also have the resources to arrange your affairs in such a way that you can achieve that status while still being able to spend significant time in the UK. Yes, individual circumstances vary, but for most people in that category these tests are not a huge hurdle.

> "If you have a boyfriend/girlfriend and you spend enough time together, you will be considered as "living as spouses or civil partners" and that would prevent you from passing the family test."

In most circumstances that is unlikely. If you have a partner that you spend enough time with to be considered "living as spouses or civil partners", then they would very likely also be non-resident. Because they'd be living with you!