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?

@annabelindajane

And as for the Sunaks tax affairs I expect they pay a lot of money to an international accountancy company who will employ a lot of highly paid men and women to sort all this out for them . As vast an empire as her fathers will be seriously complicated. She also probably has very little hands on day to day knowledge of all her investments . She will probably attend meetings every now and again .

Gosh you're right, I mean who could she turn to if she needed some advice on tax affairs? Poor woman if only she knew someone who was running a govt dept that deals with tax she would be able to get some advice.

We really need to sympathise with this "poor" woman who has no one to give her any support in what to do with her millions.

@annabelindajane

And as for the Sunaks tax affairs I expect they pay a lot of money to an international accountancy company who will employ a lot of highly paid men and women to sort all this out for them . As vast an empire as her fathers will be seriously complicated. She also probably has very little hands on day to day knowledge of all her investments . She will probably attend meetings every now and again .

Why on earth would Sunak need to employ anyone to sort out his father in law's empire? Surely his father in law's companies do that?

As for Ms Murthy's investments, it is pretty clear that the accountants she employs are instructed to minimise her tax liability. No-one in their right minds could claim that she doesn't know that that is what they are doing. She could just as easily do what, for instance, J K Rowling does, and simply use them to present tax returns on the basis that she has no wish to evade her proper UK tax liability.

Of course evading tax liability isn't unlawful, but when you are extremely rich and (presumably) want to support your husband in his political ambitions you need to think about whether that is a sensible course to take.

I do wonder if his requests calling for an inquiry into this and that will eventually backfire? I suppose her business dealings will be scrutinised more than ever now.

His wife was until very recently listed as a director N&L Aquisitions Ltd. She resigned in February and the entry updated 8th April. There is a connection with a company Lotus Global Co Ltd. I wonder if this is one of the companies given contracts for covid testing/supply?

He is so certain that he followed every piece of advice from officials as to what financial interests needed to be declared. But shouldn't all of his wife's businesses been included?

I guess whether or not it backfires depends on what his goal is. If he were starting from the belief that he could ride this out and preserve his political career, this is probably not a very smart decision. Because even in the best case scenario that it's all been done completely by the book, that's still a lot of scrutiny he's inviting into affairs that a good chunk of the public won't like. Having to argue that all his family's attempts to minimise the tax paid were totally legal isn't going to be a great look during a cost of living crisis.

If however he takes the view that he's fucked and wants to take out whichever fellow Tory stabbed him in the back, it makes more sense.

If however he takes the view that he's fucked and wants to take out whichever fellow Tory stabbed him in the back, it makes more sense.

How will an investigation in Rishi's disclosures of interest stab anyone else?

I really hope this marks a change of direction as the scales fall from people's eyes. We have had years of rich greedy bastards running things for their benefit - hopefully people who keep voting them in against the interests of the majority will actually wake up.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

If however he takes the view that he's fucked and wants to take out whichever fellow Tory stabbed him in the back, it makes more sense.

How will an investigation in Rishi's disclosures of interest stab anyone else?

It's him that's been stabbed. What he's evidently hoping to do is reveal who it was that did it and whether any laws were broken in the process. It may of course be that none were, but at minimum, whoever did it has chosen not to admit to it and presumably has elected not to make it public for a reason. He wants to cause them a problem.

[quote Crikeyalmighty]@annabelindajane. I apologise — not the Hampshire pony set— the Scottish landed gentry grouse shooting set I’m guessing— you are deluded— Paul McCartney and Elton John aren’t non Dom’s— I work in that business and they are known for paying all their taxes here and being prolific givers to charities of their choice. It doesn’t matter if these non doms just piss off - they bring little to benefit most people- it’s not as if they are even contributing— I can see you might be annoyed if they go and you run a high end luxury service company based on people with more money than sense— I can only think you are married to someone in this position or have a business benefitting from their largesse. They might leave - who cares????[/quote]
While we talk about horses there are some posters on very high horses indeed 😂

And don’t believe I’ve ever mentioned Elton John or Paul McCartney .

Tax is hugely complicated and I know quite ordinary people , a nurse I can think of , who have a financial advisor who sorts out her finances and she happily states she has an isa but barely understands what it is and leaves everything up to the FA. You’d have to be a tax lawyer to understand all the ins and outs of complicated tax arrangements and as you pay people to do this I’m sure as long as you are aware it’s legal the finer details possibly pass you by . Let’s not forget she wasn’t doing anything illegal

Illegal ? No
Immoral ? Yes
Unethical ? Yes

And it's screwed her husbands chances of being PM.
Not so bright then.

@annabelindajane

And don’t believe I’ve ever mentioned Elton John or Paul McCartney .

Tax is hugely complicated and I know quite ordinary people , a nurse I can think of , who have a financial advisor who sorts out her finances and she happily states she has an isa but barely understands what it is and leaves everything up to the FA. You’d have to be a tax lawyer to understand all the ins and outs of complicated tax arrangements and as you pay people to do this I’m sure as long as you are aware it’s legal the finer details possibly pass you by . Let’s not forget she wasn’t doing anything illegal

What finer details? Accounts don't advise on tax avoidance schemes without being instructed to do so, and she can't possibly have failed to realise that she was paying small amounts of tax to Mauritius as opposed to normal amounts of tax to the UK. Not even Murthy has tried to use the Johnson defence that she was too thick to understand what was going on.

And it's screwed her husbands chances of being PM.
Not so bright then.
tbf, I suspect what HIS green card represents together with excluding millions of tax paying SE from furlough support while simultaneously committing the UK to enormous increases to the debt while enriching fraudsters with those tens/hundreds? of billions will have already achieved that.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

I really hope this marks a change of direction as the scales fall from people's eyes. We have had years of rich greedy bastards running things for their benefit - hopefully people who keep voting them in against the interests of the majority will actually wake up.

I don’t think you can assume that Labour MPs aren’t also using tax dodges and creative accountancy. It’s common practice to minimise tax liability .

@annabelindajane

And don’t believe I’ve ever mentioned Elton John or Paul McCartney .

Tax is hugely complicated and I know quite ordinary people , a nurse I can think of , who have a financial advisor who sorts out her finances and she happily states she has an isa but barely understands what it is and leaves everything up to the FA. You’d have to be a tax lawyer to understand all the ins and outs of complicated tax arrangements and as you pay people to do this I’m sure as long as you are aware it’s legal the finer details possibly pass you by . Let’s not forget she wasn’t doing anything illegal

Oh stop it. Your attempts to defend the indefensible are pathetic. This is a very far cry from a nurse with a bloody ISA. How many nurses can afford to save the tax free maximum (£20k) into an ISA? Stop insulting our intelligence.

@annabelindajane

And don’t believe I’ve ever mentioned Elton John or Paul McCartney .

Tax is hugely complicated and I know quite ordinary people , a nurse I can think of , who have a financial advisor who sorts out her finances and she happily states she has an isa but barely understands what it is and leaves everything up to the FA. You’d have to be a tax lawyer to understand all the ins and outs of complicated tax arrangements and as you pay people to do this I’m sure as long as you are aware it’s legal the finer details possibly pass you by . Let’s not forget she wasn’t doing anything illegal

I agree tax is very complicated. If only she was married to an economist......Or the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

I'm a mere doctor and my husband a mere civil servant. My father trained as a chef and has also worked as a farmer. My sister is the nearest thing we have to a "proper" businesswoman with a fashion company.

We all employ accountants and advisors. However we all say to those advisors "we aren't dodgy as fuck and want to avoid tax so please find out exactly how much we owe this year and pay it in full, on time and no blind trusts or accounts in the Caymans please"

Now if we mere plebs can do that, surely the wife of the Chancellor amd, indeed, the Chancellor himself could also say that?

I don’t think you can assume that Labour MPs aren’t also using tax dodges and creative accountancy. It’s common practice to minimise tax liability .

If, indeed, there are any then they deserve to be shamed as well. This isn't an "oh well labour are doing it as well" situation because a) the actual Tory under discussion has been caught and b) no one from the Labour Party has.

When you employ 290000 people around the world the accounting is indeed a great deal more complicated than an individual’s.

I don’t have a problem with people having lots of money as long as they keep things legal which she has . Who knows what she denotes elsewhere and now is depriving India of much needed tax revenue.
She’s the wife of the Chancellor and it makes a great headline but it’s low life politics .

I can't remember the details but Cherie Blair got shamed about buying a flat, or was it two? I don't think there was an tax issues but someone negotiated a discount for her and he was supposed to be a conman. I don't think he conned her or the developer but just the fact he was involved seemed to be enough. Or maybe it was her investing in property. There a horrible crying episode on TV. Some sort of explanation or apology.

Anyway Sunak's wife isn't the first politicians wife to get criticised and I don't suppose she'll be the last.

Anyway Sunak's wife isn't the first politicians wife to get criticised and I don't suppose she'll be the last

Quite rightly. Shakespeare understood the importance of powerful men’s wives’ probity.

Edna Healey got no end of stick for her private hip operation and jumping the NHS queue. I seem to remember Denis storming out of a live TV interview when it was raised.

I'd forgotten about that, just shows that Labour get hit as well.

"agree tax is very complicated. If only she was married to an economist......Or the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

I'm a mere doctor and my husband a mere civil servant. My father trained as a chef and has also worked as a farmer. My sister is the nearest thing we have to a "proper" businesswoman with a fashion company.

We all employ accountants and advisors. However we all say to those advisors "we aren't dodgy as fuck and want to avoid tax so please find out exactly how much we owe this year and pay it in full, on time and no blind trusts or accounts in the Caymans please""

If your accountant said to you " you would save x amount of tax by paying y into a pension". Would you?

If your accountant said to you " you would save x amount of tax by paying y into a pension". Would you?

They have. And the answer was no. I know this is going to sound really horrendous but we don't need pensions as we will get income, in the form of dividends, throughout our lives.....unless it all goes tits, in which case my husband and I will have our NHS/civil service pensions to live on. To put money into a pension that isn't needed is still immoral

@annabelindajane

When you employ 290000 people around the world the accounting is indeed a great deal more complicated than an individual’s.

I don’t have a problem with people having lots of money as long as they keep things legal which she has . Who knows what she denotes elsewhere and now is depriving India of much needed tax revenue.
She’s the wife of the Chancellor and it makes a great headline but it’s low life politics .

But neither Sunak nor his wife employ 209,000 people around the world. His wife simply gets a healthy income for a company that does so.

Sorry, that should have said -

But neither Sunak nor his wife employ 290,000 people around the world. His wife simply gets a healthy income from a company that does so.

@SecretSpAD

If your accountant said to you " you would save x amount of tax by paying y into a pension". Would you?

They have. And the answer was no. I know this is going to sound really horrendous but we don't need pensions as we will get income, in the form of dividends, throughout our lives.....unless it all goes tits, in which case my husband and I will have our NHS/civil service pensions to live on. To put money into a pension that isn't needed is still immoral

Saving for your future isn't immoral. Especially if you are relying on investment income as that could easily disappear.

And given you said you are a doctor, you get a fair chunk of income that won't have tax on it due to your pension contributions.