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?

@FrangipaniBlue

Would all the outraged posters on this thread be happy to pay double tax on a proportion of their earnings?

Thought not.

Most of us do - we pay income tax and then we pay taxes (sometimes multiple - like VAT+Fuel Duty) on almost all purchases.

Several people have said 'no one chooses to pay more tax'. But I disagree. I know several high worth people who genuinely put tax at the bottom of their list of priorities. As part of their financial planning they specify to their advisors that tax is not an issue. Admittedly they are people who can afford to take this position. As are the Sunaks.
But these people aren't fools; they just believe taxes are a good thing and don't prioritise tax planning (as it's politely called).

@Turningpurple

Not that I take politicians at their word.

But I am sure Ed Milliband said you choose non dom status. This morning when he was interviewed on BBC.

You do choose - a PP has explained.

YABU

Do you think she's the first?

Thousands of wealthy businessMEN do it, so good on her i say.

There isn't a great deal of choice with domicile (there is a little), so I don't know why people are coming out with this as though it's as simple as signing a form.

There are 3 kinds of domicile: origin, dependency, and choice. Dependency does not apply here as she is not a child.

Your domicile of origin is fixed at birth and can never ever be displaced. If you live in the UK for a certain period of time, HMRC will deem you domiciled in the UK but this still does not remove your domicile of origin.

A domicile of choice is the only one which can be acquired, but the threshold to meet that is extremely high. In effect, Ms Murty would have to sever all ties with India. This will be near impossible for her to do due to her family and business links with the country. These rules apply whether you're trying to get a domicile outside the UK or to be considered UK domicile.

Domicile should also not be confused with tax residency, which is a different beast.

Sunak could choose to stop people freezing or starving to death this winter Complete hyperbole

@Turningpurple

Not that I take politicians at their word.

But I am sure Ed Milliband said you choose non dom status. This morning when he was interviewed on BBC.

I didn't hear him but it's possible he was talking about the remittance basis charge which she will choose.

Yes, the remittance basis is a choice and something which you elect to use year on year through your tax return. But that's to do with the tax treatment of your overseas income / assets and not your domicile (although only non-doms can claim it).

Love to see this law. HMRC decides whether you are dom or non dom

Well, yes, they decide according, you get it if you meet the requirement, as I said, but you choose whether or not to apply .

I didn't hear him but it's possible he was talking about the remittance basis charge which she will choose.

Just found it on the BBC website he Ed Miliband says 'you don't have to be a non-dom. You choose to do it....I think there are legitimate questions that need to be asked of RS about this'

That definitely gives the impression it's a choice.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone and do you think she doesn't purchase any of those things, or that somehow she does but doesn't pay tax on them like you or I?

Akshata Murthy is rich because her parents set up a business in India. She was also born and educated in India. Her non dom status may be because of saving taxes but also because she has ties to India and needs to retain them for business reasons too?

Incidentally her mother, Sudha Murty is famous in India because of her philanthropy. She's a computer engineer and was the first female engineer in her compnay. She started a foundation which has built hospitals/orphanages etc .
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudha_Murty

Akshata Murthy may be famous in UK because she's Rishi Sunak's wife. But she probably sees herself as more than that. Maybe she chooses to make her own business decisions??

At the risk of sounding like I'm in an about-face, I have to say that when Miliband said there were legitimate questions of RS, it did feel somewhat patriarchal -

Did you know your wife is a non-dom. You should do something about that. Tell her to become domiciled in the UK. Look at her tax return to check it. Keep her in line.

Somehow, I can't imagine the same tone of conversation happening in the Milliband household.

I don't recall Sam getting much heat about her family wealth when DC was PM even during austerity while they spent more than the annual HB limit for someone's whole house on refurbishing an adequate kitchen?

Rishi and his wife must be just laughing at us all.

Doesn't really matter if it's legal.
A) I don't personally believe it should be legal for the wealthiest to protect themselves so easily from paying into society through taxes.
B) If you are married to the Chancellor of the Exchequer it's really tone deaf at a time when some people cannot afford to both eat and pay for food to be keeping millions to yourself that could be paid in tax.

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

Lol. You can’t. You’re either domiciled or not domiciled by the tax rules. You can’t decide, oh I think this applies to me instead for PR reasons.

@EmpressCixi

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

Lol. You can’t. You’re either domiciled or not domiciled by the tax rules. You can’t decide, oh I think this applies to me instead for PR reasons.

You either don't know about the choices she has or you are being pedantic about terminology. She does have some choice about her UK taxation - and she's made a decision about how to be treated in order to pay less than she would otherwise.

But maybe she pays her taxes in India as an Indian citizen resident in UK. And that's probably right as her wealth is due to her parents' business which is built up in India...OK it means that you pay less tax in the UK. But suppose you marry an Indian and go over and live in India, does that mean you have to renounce your British citizenship and become an Indian. Not many British citizens who live overseas do that!

@daimbarsatemydogsbone agreed again. but I wonder if the Chancellor would gain votes by having something along the lines of the following conversation in a friendly interview.

Chancellor, you should tell your wife how to handle her tax affairs.
Chancellor laughs. Then rolls his eyes and shakes his head. then asks 'Have you ever met my wife?' When was the last time you instructed your wife what to do? How did that work out?

www.gov.uk/tax-foreign-income/non-domiciled-residents
you cannot decide to be non dom, but only arising/remittance

@Appleandoranges

But maybe she pays her taxes in India as an Indian citizen resident in UK. And that's probably right as her wealth is due to her parents' business which is built up in India...OK it means that you pay less tax in the UK. But suppose you marry an Indian and go over and live in India, does that mean you have to renounce your British citizenship and become an Indian. Not many British citizens who live overseas do that!

But we’re not talking about some random, we’re talking about the wife of the chancellor of the exchequer who allegedly has his eye on premiership.

Personally I don’t think she should do anything, I think he should be able to see the conflict of interest and accept that his ambitions will be limited by his wifes. At the most basic level, RS and his family aren’t as invested in this country and it’s future whilst they’re financially benefiting from declining to partake in financial contributions they would otherwise be liable for. I’m questioning his suitability for over seeing far reaching policies when his stake in their success or failure is much less than someone of similar status whose wife’s business and tax affairs are based in the UK.

@fallfallfall

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.

Legal, but absolutely terrible optics for a chancellor raising taxes.

Sorry non-issue for me he's declared everything and its all above board. Its his wife who's earnt that portion of the family money and I'm sure he pays the right tax on money he's earnt.

Its funny how everyone's forgotten about BoJo and his parties, which were illegal.

@MullinerSpec

Sorry non-issue for me he's declared everything and its all above board. Its his wife who's earnt that portion of the family money and I'm sure he pays the right tax on money he's earnt.

Its funny how everyone's forgotten about BoJo and his parties, which were illegal.

Don't worry, most of us haven't.

think he should be able to see the conflict of interest and accept that his ambitions will be limited by his wifes. At the most basic level, RS and his family aren’t as invested in this country and it’s future whilst they’re financially benefiting from declining to partake in financial contributions they would otherwise be liable for.

That way racism lies. You’re literally saying that no one should aspire to to PM if they’re married to a nonBritish Citizen....because noncitizens are “not invested in this country” blah de blah more xenophobia against a brown Indian woman.