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Original poster

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

870 replies

FlowerArranger · 07/04/2022 06:16

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?

OP posts:
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5
Enzbear · 07/04/2022 07:42

Rich people serve themselves no matter what party they belong to and 99% of MPs are there to sort themselves out first. I don't want a society where everything is shared equally though.So some people will have a lot more than others.

Turningpurple · 07/04/2022 07:42

@ABitBesottedWithMyDog

Don't blame her. I wouldn't live here with that slimy creep either.
She does live here
Shade17 · 07/04/2022 07:42

Only a complete idiot would pay tax that they don’t need to. We work within the law to avoid as much as possible, it’s common sense.

OutingHobby · 07/04/2022 07:44

He did phone-ins on a couple of radio stations - I heard one - and he was unable to answer questions on how people on benefits deal with the increase in energy and food prices.

This should be enough to annoy people. Don't need to drag his bread habits and wife into it.

onemouseplace · 07/04/2022 07:45

@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.

This. I was reading the frothing in the paper this morning and thought the same.
LovelyYellowLabrador · 07/04/2022 07:45

Disgusted and shocked as I actually thought he was decent

RandomThought96 · 07/04/2022 07:47

Do you voluntarily pay taxes you are not legally obliged to pay, OP?

Biker47 · 07/04/2022 07:48

@LovelyYellowLabrador

Disgusted and shocked as I actually thought he was decent
You though he was decent, what does the domiciled and tax status of his non-British wife have to do with any of that?
MaidenSpeech · 07/04/2022 07:49

@Christienne

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

🤷🏼‍♀️

Paul Heaton, Beautiful South
Zonder · 07/04/2022 07:50

She lives here. She is married to a government minister here. Her children are at school here. The non-dom status, while legal, is morally questionable.

Outlookmainlyfair · 07/04/2022 07:50

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads

Outraged, but honestly not surprised.
My thoughts exactly!
Zonder · 07/04/2022 07:51

Good point @OutingHobby

ChardonnaysPetDragon · 07/04/2022 07:51

She pays tax on what she earns there, and on what her income is here.

Yes, she has to actively choose to be non dom, it's not automatic, but it's not that she's not paying taxes.

I also would assume she has quite a solid pre cup, so it's not like all her money is his money as well. Having said that, it its a lot of money.

Lockheart · 07/04/2022 07:53

This is fine. As she is non-domiciled she can use the remittance basis and therefore will only pay UK tax on overseas income if she brings that income into the UK.

What logic would you apply that would see Indian income, kept in India, taxed in India, and never brought into the UK, taxed in the UK?

It's completely fair, to my mind.

The DTT rules you quote would only apply if the income was brought into the UK and taxed here.

853ax · 07/04/2022 07:55

What I'm reading here is that for first 15 years living in UK people are not tax resident UK , remain tax resident in previous county or county of citizenship?
If this is the case to me it sounds like the problem and people should be putting pressure on gov to change that.

Lockheart · 07/04/2022 07:55

@ChardonnaysPetDragon

She pays tax on what she earns there, and on what her income is here.

Yes, she has to actively choose to be non dom, it's not automatic, but it's not that she's not paying taxes.

I also would assume she has quite a solid pre cup, so it's not like all her money is his money as well. Having said that, it its a lot of money.

Actually you can't choose to be non-dom. A domicile of origin is notoriously hard to shake off.

To become deemed domiciled in the UK she will have to stay in the UK for a minimum of 15 years in the last 20 but even then she will still retain her Indian domicile.

She could try and go for a domicile of choice but this can be very difficult to demonstrate if one e.g. has family overseas.

Lockheart · 07/04/2022 07:57

@853ax

What I'm reading here is that for first 15 years living in UK people are not tax resident UK , remain tax resident in previous county or county of citizenship? If this is the case to me it sounds like the problem and people should be putting pressure on gov to change that.
No, tax residency and your domicile are two different things.

It appears she is currently UK resident for tax purposes as she lives here, but her deemed UK domicile would not kick in for 15 years.

BanjoKnickers · 07/04/2022 07:58

Entirely fair, and bonkers to say otherwise. By all means change the law (and it's been the law for decades, through governments of many varieties) but to make special rrules justfor the Chancellor's wife or otherwise to expect her to make what would effectively be charitable donations to the treasury coffers is what would be unfair.

NoOtherShadeOfBlue · 07/04/2022 07:58

Sunak's choices are morally reprehensible and it's relevant because he's a politician, he's the Chancellor and he hopes to become PM. He has chosen for people to struggle, chosen to force children into poverty and limit their life chances and he has chosen for people in Britain to die of cold or hunger. These are all choices he has made - he hasn't been compelled to make them. He could choose differently to improve and save lives instead. But he would rather entrench the enormous gulf between rich and poor.

His choice to financially benefit by being married to a woman who uses these tax loopholes is morally reprehensible too. Certainly most wealthy people avail themselves of loopholes. Wealthy people run the country and make the laws which create these opportunities and advantages for themselves and then insist that anyone in their position would do the same. But by constantly reinforcing and extending that division between the wealthy and everyone else, they ensure no one else gets the chance. What loopholes are available to the poor? What tax dodges can an ordinary person find to imcrease their own comfort?

Sunak's policies are designed to ensure that people like him - a tiny minority - can get richer and richer while everyone else stays stuck where they are or is dragged back.

People in this country will suffer, children's futures blighted and people will die because of his choices. And he will go on reaping enormous rewards and huge wealth.

Someone has already mentioned J K Rowling as an example of a wealthy person who voluntarily pays more tax than she is compelled to. People like this do exist - not everyone is as much as a compassionless moral vacuum as Sunak.

BigGreen · 07/04/2022 07:59

It's so gross, what did we do to deserve such politicians?

sweepeep · 07/04/2022 07:59

@Zonder and because she lived here and her dc go to school here you think she should pay tax here? She more than likely doesn't use the NHS, I'm guessing she pays to go private?! The dc go to private school I'm guessing so yet again she will be paying and therefore not using the State system. She will pay road tax on any cars she drives I presume, she will pay council tax also. So all in all, she probably puts in more and takes out less than an average U.K. citizen to be honest.

Roselilly36 · 07/04/2022 08:00

Tax dodge, absolutely, but a legal one. Lots of negativity directed at Rishi & co now, personally, I am not a fan, but I wonder what camp all these stories are coming from…

Malibuismysecrethome · 07/04/2022 08:00

Why should he feel compelled to interfere in his wife’s tax affairs. It’s not the 1800’s.

hypaingea · 07/04/2022 08:02

The greed is extraordinary.

It's completely standard though which is why I don't really get the outrage at them alone. Very few wealthy people don't use some form of tax avoidance scheme.

amatsip · 07/04/2022 08:05

I’m baffled at the frothing?

She hasn’t done anything wrong.

First the infosys Russian office caused hatred, when it had nothing to do with her.

Now her tax status which is entirely legal.

What next? Get to the point, she is rich and Asian and she is meant to be beneath you.

Leave her alone she is not to blame for the Tory government’s incompetence.