Tax & Visa Day Counter

Why Tracking Your Days Matters for Tax and Immigration

If you live, work, or travel across borders, the number of days you spend in each country has real consequences. Tax authorities use day counts to determine whether you're a tax resident, which decides whether they can tax your worldwide income. Immigration authorities use day counts to enforce visa limits, and overstaying can result in fines, deportation, or future entry bans.

If you live or travel across borders, the same list of stays answers both questions. This tool lets you log your stays once and then count them against a visa limit and against a tax day count on the same page.

Tax Residency Rules You Should Know

Spending 183 days or more in a country in a year is one of the tests many countries use for tax residency. Each country writes its own rule: some count a calendar year and some their own tax year, and most look at more than days, such as where your home and family are. A tax resident is usually taxed on income from anywhere in the world, so the count is worth knowing before the year ends.

New Zealand's 325-day rule works the other way round. To stop being a New Zealand tax resident you must be away from New Zealand for more than 325 days in any 12-month period. The 12 months can start on any day, so this tool tries every start day in the stays you logged and shows the 12 months with the most days away.

The US Physical Presence Test matters for American expats. To qualify for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE), which lets you exclude up to $132,900 of foreign-earned income from US federal tax in 2026, you must be physically present outside the US for at least 330 full days in any 12-month period. Full days means midnight to midnight; travel days don't count.

The US Substantial Presence Test applies to foreign nationals in the US. It uses a weighted formula: 100% of days in the current year, plus one-third of prior-year days, plus one-sixth of days two years ago. If the weighted total hits 183 (and you had at least 31 days in the current year), the IRS treats you as a US tax resident.

The UK's Automatic Residence Test uses a midnight rule: if you are in the UK at midnight, that counts as a day of presence. Spend 183 or more such days in the UK tax year (6 April to 5 April), and you are automatically UK tax resident.

Visa Rules for Digital Nomads and Frequent Travellers

The Schengen rule allows no more than 90 days in any 180 days, counted across all the Schengen countries together. It is not 90 days per half year: for every day of your stay, the 180 days before it are checked, so the count moves each day. The day you enter and the day you leave both count.

Limits that apply to one stay at a time change, and they depend on your passport. In May 2026 Thailand's foreign ministry announced that its 60-day visa exemption is withdrawn and a 30-day exemption applies to the countries on its list. The number of days stamped in your passport is the one that counts, which is why this tool lets you change the limit.

The United States lets visitors under the Visa Waiver Program stay up to 90 days, and that stay cannot be extended. A Standard Visitor can usually stay in the United Kingdom for up to 6 months. A visitor's stay in Mexico cannot go past 180 days, and the officer at the border may give fewer.

Costa Rica gives visitors from its first group of countries up to 180 days and the other groups up to 30. For any country that is not listed, pick "Your own rule" and type the limit written on your own visa or stamp.

How to Use This Tool

Start by entering all your trips in the trip log, every country visit with arrival and departure dates. You only need to do this once.

Then pick a rule under Visa Rules or Tax Rules. The tool counts your days against it and tells you in one sentence where you stand: how many days are left, the last day the limit allows, or by how many days a stay runs past it.

For rules that look back over a period, such as Schengen, the tool counts the 180 days up to today and also checks every day of a stay you have planned. For a limit on one stay, it counts the stay you are on today. If you are not on one, it counts your next planned stay, and if none is planned, your most recent one. Use "Your own rule" if your visa is not listed.

Tips for Staying Compliant

Keep records of every border crossing. Save boarding passes, passport stamps, flight confirmations, and hotel bookings, so that you can show your travel dates if a tax office or a border officer asks for them.

Leave yourself spare days. A cancelled flight or an illness can keep you in a country longer than you planned, so a stay that ends on the last allowed day has no room for that.

This tool is for planning and tracking purposes only. It is not legal, tax, or immigration advice. Consult qualified professionals for decisions about your residency status and visa compliance.

Frequently Asked Questions