Rishi's wife does not pay tax (millions!!) on dividends!

[FlowerArranger]

From today's Guardian :

Rishi Sunak’s multi-millionaire wife claims non-domicile status, it has emerged, which allows her to save millions of pounds in tax on dividends collected from her family’s IT business empire.

Akshata Murthy, who receives about £11.5m in annual dividends from her stake in the Indian IT services company Infosys, declares non-dom status, a scheme that allows people to avoid tax on foreign earnings.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/06/rishi-sunaks-wife-claims-non-domicile-status?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Anyone as outraged by this as I am? I mean what the actual fuck?

Outraged, but honestly not surprised.

The greed is extraordinary.

Why? It’s not illegal. It would be considered good tax planning. She would be paying taxes on that money in the country it’s registered in. Wealthy people all over the world do this and countries court their money as well.

Surprise! Tories are not your friends.

Well she’s only doing what she’s entitled to , she’s Indian nor British and has retained her Indian domicile so presumably she pays tax in India .

I don’t think it’s very appropriate but I actually think it’s worse that he’s jetted off for Easter to his flat in Santa Monica and that presumably his children are at expensive London schools whilst he as Chancellor makes decisions about funding state schools.

In general I don’t think being rich should preclude you from government office however you have yo understand that that comes with responsibility. rishi isn’t just rich he’s in another world rich and he seems unable to see or understand how this is relevant to being in high office.

To me it’s a non story - unless we expect politicians and their families to follow different tax laws than the rest of us? She’s not breaking any laws. It just highlights the gap between the rich and poor.

The maths of the article also doesn’t add up - I wouldn’t expect a dividend of 11.5m from a company only worth 690m, of which I had a 1% stake. You can only take dividend from profits so that would suggest a 1.15bn profit for the year which would make the company worth more.

Hmm I am on the fence. When her husband has jacked up NI right now, I get people being annoyed.

However, this is on money a non citizen earns outside the UK (If I have understood it rightly). Its within the rules. It was reported by RS correctly. So really, they haven't done anything wrong.

I can see why people disagree with the tax rules though. Though imagine if they scrapped it, people like her just wouldn't spend alot of time in the country. People with money, will always have the ability to reduce their tax liability liability.

Though for me, if you are incredibly rich and do what you can to avoid paying tax, it's morally wrong. I think given RS job and decisions that have been made that are impacting people so much, it does just feel wrong.

I believe that she pays tax on them where they are domiciled, in India, which has equal or higher tax % than UK.

Does anyone want to post here how much tax she pays in India?

As a dual national myself, I'd rather not have to pay 20% on my income to both HMRC & IRS -- technically Britain does demand this. I had to file a Uk return because of $12 bank interest earned a few years ago.

Well she does pay tax, but tax on Indian assets she pays tax in India. I can’t really get bothered by it. Her taxes in India will help someone there.

She pays uk tax on uk earnings.

Yes its outrageous but its been reported that;

• He told the Cabinet in 2018 that it was the case that she was non-domicile, no one obviously cared then or insisted on a change.
• She's Indian by birth, and India is a country where you can't hold dual citizenship. So are we saying that because she's rich she should be given/take british citizenship, but bluntly a lot of folk wouldn't say the same about a poor India citizen
• She only moved to the UK in 2015 so this rule applies until 15 years of continuous living in the UK, at which point she has to pay domicile tax, so 2030.
• The income concerned seems to be mainly from the family business Infosys which is HQ'd in India where she does pay tax on it. She has less than 1% stake in it, and I'm assuming pretty much no day to day involvement or control over where its HQ, what dividend is paid etc.

I'm not saying it doesn't gall especially in light of existing economy, but she's actually just following the current laws. What the govt should do is tighten up the loopholes that have existed for years and which rich people pay advisors to understand and maximise their money through. There's not many people who would offer to pay tax they don't legally have to. However, the govt - especially the tories - are never going to tighten up loopholes which they themselves have taken advantage of.

@Hollyhead it’s her stake that’s worth 690m, the company itself is worth much much more

I am aware that it is not illegal.

There is a dual taxation agreement between the UK and India which states that:

A dividend paid by a company which is a resident of India to a resident of the United Kingdom may be taxed in the United Kingdom. The dividend may also be taxed in India but the Indian tax so charged shall not exceed 15 per cent of the gross amount of the dividend.

So, by choosing to be non-domiciled, she is saving herself a maximum of 15% in tax. Given how outrageously rich she is, and her husband's position as Chancellor, it is at least morally dubious (and in my view unethical) for her to choose not to pay tax in the country where she lives.

She has lived here for 7 years and the option not to pay tax is limited to 15 years. For public relations reasons if nothing else, she'd be wise to end her non-domiciled status now.

@Caspianberg

Well she does pay tax, but tax on Indian assets she pays tax in India. I can’t really get bothered by it. Her taxes in India will help someone there.

She pays uk tax on uk earnings.

Exactly Seems okay to me

Slightly worried there's a drive to get Sunak out. He was the only one who was anti lockdown, I think?

OP "For public relations reasons if nothing else, she'd be wise to end her non-domiciled status now."

PR for what purpose? I don't think he wants to be PM. I thought he'd resign in lockdown.

It was always known he'd married a multi millionaire. They're not likely to miss any tax loopholes.

It does not read well, but if she is following the rules that apply to her in both the UK & India, avoiding tax liability not evading tax payment, & all is auditable & transparent, then so be it.

If the rules change & she complies, so be it.

That much wealth is unfathomable to me.
Also to live under that much scrutiny.

YABU and articles like this in papers are only designed to shit stir.

She pays the tax that the law expects of her.

@EmmaH2022 they want him out because Johnson got in on a promise of levelling up whereas Sunak will reimplement the austerity favoured by Cameron/Osbourne. Johnson is an idiot but he is able to see that the public won’t tolerate another 10 years of austerity (especially from a chancellor rolling in personal wealth) and recognises that it was the wrong thing to do the first time around.

Oh, give over! She is independent financially, of her husband, and whilst this may be morally reprehensible to most, it is not illegal. Most people will find a way around any rule or law. Indeed, many posts on MN have been about posters breaking lockdown laws and being supported by others; bet many also park on yellow lines/school exclusion zones "only for a couple of minutes"
Don't forget, we vote in those who make the law - if you don't like the n9n-dom law, do something about it
Stop being outraged by DM and GMB stories and get outraged about something worthwhile like the potential early release oh Jamie Bulger's murderer

@FlowerArranger

I am aware that it is not illegal.

There is a dual taxation agreement between the UK and India which states that:

A dividend paid by a company which is a resident of India to a resident of the United Kingdom may be taxed in the United Kingdom. The dividend may also be taxed in India but the Indian tax so charged shall not exceed 15 per cent of the gross amount of the dividend.

So, by choosing to be non-domiciled, she is saving herself a maximum of 15% in tax. Given how outrageously rich she is, and her husband's position as Chancellor, it is at least morally dubious (and in my view unethical) for her to choose not to pay tax in the country where she lives.

She has lived here for 7 years and the option not to pay tax is limited to 15 years. For public relations reasons if nothing else, she'd be wise to end her non-domiciled status now.

It’s a remittance basis so she will be taxed on any of that money if it enters the uk it’s not just free of uk tax. Obviously if she’s doesn’t need the cash it will never enter the uk and remain in India, where she can either reinvest it, spend it when she goes over there, or leave it in the bank. Not sure we should be encouraging money to be pulled out of India.

A non story really. She pays her taxes in India as she is and Indian citizen .
Looks to me as if Team Boros are briefing against Rushi as they see him as a credible threat to his leadership ( there is no leadership)

@FlowerArranger she is not saving 15% she is paying a minimum of 15% in India and the balance in the U.K. That agreement covers U.K. domiciles . If she is Indian domiciled then she pays tax on Indian income in India and I think on her worldwide income. Tax on U.K. income will be paid here and she will get a credit in India via the double tax agreement.

She isn't choosing to be non domiciled - she is non domiciled as she has an Indian passport. India doesn't allow dual citizenship.

Non story really. Apparently to discredit Rishi sunak as a rival to Boris.

Funny how no one bothered about any of this when Rishi was throwing what they thought was free money at them.
Now he’s saying the bills have to be paid he’s the bad guy. We never change in this country, do we?

Perhaps we should make laws saying no government minister can be married to a foreign citizen. All terribly progressive

I don’t know of anyone who voluntarily pays more tax than they need to…

🤷🏼‍♀️