Rishi Sunak faces questions over wife Akshata Murty's non-dom tax status

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is facing calls to “come clean” on his family’s financial affairs after it emerged his wife benefits from a tax-saving scheme.

Millionaire Akshata Murty has non-dom status, meaning she does not have to pay UK tax on income earned abroad. Her spokeswoman said Ms Murty, an Indian citizen, pays all legally required tax in the UK.

But Labour said it was not right that the chancellor and his family were “sheltering” from UK taxes. Shadow cabinet minister Ed Miliband said the chancellor should issue an “explanation” of his wife’s decision to seek non-dom tax status. I think it’s legal, but is it right?," he added, at a time when taxes were increasing for millions of workers.

Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson Christine Jardine said: “Sunak now needs to come clean about which country his family pays tax in abroad and if it is a tax haven.”

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng defended Mr Sunak, saying it was “completely unfair” to scrutinise the tax affairs of Ms Murty, “who is not a politician”. He also rejected opposition claims that Ms Murty was “sheltering” from UK taxes. He told BBC Breakfast: “I think she’s been very clear, she’s been very transparent, the Chancellor’s been very transparent, and this non-dom status has been part of the UK tax system for more than 200 years.”

A non-dom is a UK resident whose permanent home, or domicile, is outside of the UK. If someone is granted non-dom status, they must pay UK tax on UK earnings, but need not pay UK tax on foreign income or gains unless they bring that income back to the UK.

The BBC has been told that Ms Murty does pay taxes abroad on her foreign income.

Honesty is the best policy … :grinning:

She has been honest as a non-dom. She pays taxes here for income secured in the UK and also pays taxes abroad for income secured from abroad. I am married to a dual nationality woman with interests both in the UK and abroad, so I know what it entails from the inside out.
This is simply the media stirring the blanket adhesive for their own gain and enjoyment🤬

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Wouldn’t it be great if Ed Miliband was so vocal about Amazons, Googles etc morals paying so little tax in this country. Labour are such a useless party these days that it really says it all if this is the best they can come up with.
There are far more important issues to take the government to task about.

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Definitely!! Most probably diversionary tactics by the opposition, or rather lack of it due to their poor performance :grin:

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‘Non-domiciled’ residents

UK residents who have their permanent home (‘domicile’) outside the UK may not have to pay UK tax on foreign income.

The same rules apply if you make any foreign capital gains, for example you sell shares or a second home.

Working out your domicile

Your domicile is usually the country your father considered his permanent home when you were born. It may have changed if you moved abroad and you do not intend to return.

So, where is Mrs Sunak’s 'permanent home?

If it’s India then there is no problem. If it’s the UK then she’s avoiding paying UK tax.

Non-domiciled status can have significant tax advantages for the wealthy.

Prominent non-doms include:

  • Roman Abramovich
  • Arpad Busson
  • James Caan
  • Richard Caring
  • Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England
  • Sudhir Choudhrie
  • Sir Ronald Cohen
  • Ben Goldsmith
  • Stuart Gulliver, CEO of HSBC
  • Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere
  • António Horta Osório, CEO of Lloyds Banking Group
  • John McFarlane, former Chairman of Barclays
  • Lakshmi Mittal
  • Akshata Murthy, wife of Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak
  • Sir Christopher Ondaatje
  • Sir Anwar Pervez
  • David Potter
  • Sigrid Rausing
  • Doug Richard
  • Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca
  • Mark Wilson, CEO of Aviva

The annual charge for gaining non-dom status in the UK ranges from £30,000 to £60,000 depending on how long a citizen has lived in the country.

Reading the criteria for non-dom status, I would say Ms Murty’s Domicile is in India.

I don’t think she has done anything wrong and it’s wrong for the press and for political opponents to be persecuting individual foreign nationals in this way, just because they happen to be married to a politician.

If someone thinks the tax laws in UK relating to the income of foreign nationals is wrong, they should focus on campaigning to change the Law instead of trying to make out that those who are legitimately abiding by our laws are somehow at fault.

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Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer’s affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxpayer’s tax liability, and it includes dishonest tax reporting, declaring less income, profits or gains than the amounts actually earned, overstating deductions, using bribes against authorities in countries with high corruption rates and hiding money in secret locations.

Tax evasion is an activity commonly associated with the informal economy.(Tax evasion - Wikipedia) One measure of the extent of tax evasion (the “tax gap”) is the amount of unreported income, which is the difference between the amount of income that should be reported to the tax authorities and the actual amount reported.

In contrast, tax avoidance is the legal use of tax laws to reduce one’s tax burden. Both tax evasion and tax avoidance can be viewed as forms of tax noncompliance, as they describe a range of activities that intend to subvert a state’s tax system, but such classification of tax avoidance is disputable since avoidance is lawful in self-creating systems.(Tax evasion - Wikipedia) Both tax evasion and tax avoidance can be practiced by corporations, trusts, or individuals.

Her own personal fortune is estimated to be at £430million, making her richer than the Queen whose personal wealth spans £350million.

She receives about £11,500,000 pa from her stake in Indian IT services company Infosys.

The amount of tax that Akshata is liable for in either (or any) country would justify the expenditure of £30,000 in order to avoid (let alone evade) paying tax in the UK.

So, she may be “legitimately abiding by our laws” but only because she can afford to do so and they can be used to her advantage.

Hi
We are very lax in this respect.

Other Countries have a much simpler definition.

It is which Country you live in for most of the year.

Rishi has said that Tax Avoidance is wrong and that he is after those who keep cash.

He can keep his hands off my stash.

I put my coins every day in my duck.

It is Easter Holidays here next week, and Millie, 6 years old, will be emptying it.

It currently stands at £37.81p and she will have to work to get it all.

It will be great fun.

Rishi’s wife has done nothing wrong, her wealth was harvested in India and
presumably tax was paid in lndia too, so if she now lives in UK anything she
earns here will be taxed here as well ?
So it follows that if she transfers some of her wealth to UK for whatever
reason, then if that money then earns her further income in UK then
that profit will be taxed as if she were a resident ?
I can see no problem with this !
However l would question whether the original source of such wealth
was entirely legal, but that’s another matter ?
Donkeyman! :thinking::thinking:

The question re “non-dom status” is whether, as an Indian national, she intends to permanently reside in the UK or, at some future time, relocate back to India. With a family, and a number of expensive properties, in the UK, Akshata would, IMO, not be likely to relocate back to India therefore she should be paying tax on all her income received in the UK, whether it’s been taxed abroad already or not.

@Omah , Aint that wot l just said??
Donkeyman! :roll_eyes::roll_eyes:

Not quite - not only can Akshata, by remaining an Indian national, avoid paying tax by claiming income has been earned and taxed abroad but she can also avoid paying tax on her investments by locating them offshore.

Many of the benefits of non-dom status are listed here:

ALL HER INCOME RECEIVED IN THE UK are the pertinent words Omah. From what I’ve heard, read, and seen, she pays her dues on all income generated in the UK - exactly as she should LEGALLY do. Everything else is just a bloody smokescreen and the media shit stirring again as far as I’m concerned.

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Rishi has a dodgy past:

Everyone knew Rishi Sunak’s previous employment history when he first stood for Parliament - he still got voted in by the majority of the voters in his constituency - even though he had no previous links to the area and had been “helicoptered” into a safe seat.
Whatever Labour try to do to get rid of Rishi, at the next election I can pretty much guarantee that a Tory Candidate will take the MP seat for that Constituency, whether it is Rishi or someone else.

Casting aspersions on Rishi and his wife right now just smacks of somebody being out to get him, by hook or by crook - he’s unpopular at present because of decisions taken as Chancellor - see a little crack, then get the hammer and chisel out to make it wider with a plethora of articles to denigrate him - even if they are 2 years old - it’s par for the course for any politician nowadays.

As I said on the last thread thread having a dig at Mr Sunak, I never voted for him or his party, so I have no axe to grind - I just hate to see the knives being sharpened for an onslaught against someone from every conceivable angle - even using their family members as ammunition. :frowning::-1:

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@Omah , she is within the law though Omah ! If we don’t like the law, we must
change the law whatever the outcries are or where they come from ?
I am more concerned about companies that harvest their wealth within
the UK and then, “legally” tranfer that har
vest to low tax states in the
Caribbean or even US states withinthe US itself ! Leaving only the paltry
personal tax of their owners to be paid in UK ?
At the moment this is entirely legal and it is disgusting that it is ??
It seems the treasury is complicit in allowing this to happen which seems
strange ??
Donkeyman! :-1::frowning::frowning::-1:

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Taxes in the UK are among the highest in the world. Should anyone choose to spend their £ here then that’s good for the ecomony. And positive encouragement to other oligarchs and iffy types. This is the UK biggest industry.

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@d00d , Do you mean to say that the UKs biggest industry is sustained
by money stolen from millions of poor peasants dOOdy ??
And you approve of it !!
Donkeyman! :-1::thinking::thinking::-1:

It’s called finance, banking, whatever. I never said I approve, but it’s long established and the city is highly respected. Without it, what else can we do?

I don’t understand this bit.

@d00d , Well you did mention oligarch ?
And you said good luck to them too ??
Donkeyman! :roll_eyes::roll_eyes: