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?

I don't understand. She does pay taxes in the UK on her UK income. She just doesn't pay taxes on her income in India. I do the same.

I can't understand what she has done wrong though I am as anti Tory as they come.

I will happily vote for a party that brings CGT in line with income, has much higher levies on 2nd home ownership &/or foreign ownership. Even the new "you don't need to sell you home for care" scheme benefits those with higher assets, whereas I would have made it a %. But many won't vote for the above.

[quote hypaingea]@NoOtherShadeOfBlue but that's the Tory way & people vote for it because they think it will make them rocher [/quote]
Yes, the Tory way is morally abhorrent and destroys countless lives and robs children of their future and people of their dignity and health. It's outrageous...hence this thread. Why is anyone defending him? An enormously wealthy man who has actively chosen to impoverish huge numbers of people. A number of posters are trying to claim we would all do the same in his position - we really wouldnt!

@ancientgran good for you. I have savings which could be used for BTLs but I don't feel comfortable with that so invest in ethical stocks & just save.

He got this power when Johnson's government got voted in on a promise of levelling up

Why would people believe that? Look what austerity did.

I’ve put YABU because the arrangement is within the law.

However I disagree wholeheartedly with the principle and think our tax laws need an overhaul when looking at situations like this one.

@CheeryTreeBlossom

She does pay tax, just not UK tax. Headline should be "Indian citizen pays Indian taxes on income in India" but that's not so likely to make people froth at the mouth. India really restricts what non citizens are allowed to do (purchase land, own companies etc) so it makes complete sense she wouldn't have necessarily given up her citizenship of birth from a practical as well as emotional reason. India also charges you to remove significant amounts of money from the country (unlike the UK) so another reason she probably won't bring a lot of the money over. Honestly her citizenship and tax affairs are her business and hers alone. She is not a public servant.

I really think the fact that people are begrudging India, with its worse poverty and COVID crisis, her tax £££ because they want in in the UK is grabby to the extreme.

I am of Indian origin and this is accurate. That should be the headline.

@JanisMoplin

I don't understand. She does pay taxes in the UK on her UK income. She just doesn't pay taxes on her income in India. I do the same.

I can't understand what she has done wrong though I am as anti Tory as they come.

I don't understand it either. I guess people expect he should force her to declare herself domiciled, despite her connections to India and it permanently affecting her tax affairs, to benefit his career? If the amounts weren't so large I'm pretty sure anyone on Mumsnet would describe that as financially controlling your spouse.

Is his partner imposing higher taxes on the poor?

The growth in assets & devaluation of wages has increased inequality. The gov can't go after the 1% so they go after the ordinary man.
The only wage to stop the widening inequality is to target wealth as opposed to just income but who will vote for that?

@hypaingea

He got this power when Johnson's government got voted in on a promise of levelling up

Why would people believe that? Look what austerity did.

So...is it the gullible public's fault for believing them rather than the government's fault for lying?

People were sold lies about Brexit and lies about Johnson's intentions and there are many people who voted to improve their circumstances only to discover how much contempt Johnson, Sunak et al hold them in and that their lives would be made significantly worse instead. It's the government who should be held accountable for the lies, not the people who believed them blamed for hoping it was true.

It's outrageous...hence this thread. Why is anyone defending him?

I'm not, I didn't vote Tory or Brexit but it's not about me.

So...is it the gullible public's fault for believing them rather than the government's fault for lying?

Who's fault will it be when despite current policies they win again after they cut taxes leading up to the election?

Just because it is legal doesn't make it right. She lives in this country, she chooses not to pay her fair share of taxes. Shame on her. as far as I can see from the articles I've read she does pay her "fair share" of taxes, on her income generated in India she pays the tax owed to the Indian government. On her income generated in the UK she paid UK taxes. What is the actual problem with this? Are chancellors not to marry people with income outside this country who pay their tax elsewhere? Is that the problem?

@hypaingea

So...is it the gullible public's fault for believing them rather than the government's fault for lying?

Who's fault will it be when despite current policies they win again after they cut taxes leading up to the election?

I'm still going to blame this morally bankrupt, super rich, dishonest government for the damage they choose to inflict, thank you!

[quote cyclamenqueen]@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.[/quote]

Absolutely.

This is a complete 'non story' frothing up the masses devoid of critical thinking.

@CheeryTreeBlossom exactly!

The amount of people avoiding tax that the Tories know about is ridiculous but then taking the extra £20 off universal credit is just plain sick.

A non story for me.

She is non domiciled and has elected to be taxed on the remittance basis. All perfectly legal and she won't be the only one.

It's a click bait story encouraging us to be outraged by the numbers bandied about. She is not doing anything illegal and she is non-dom because India does not allow dual citizenship. She pays taxes in both India and here so it's not really a tax avoidance story either.

@OutingHobby

Just because it is legal doesn't make it right. She lives in this country, she chooses not to pay her fair share of taxes. Shame on her. as far as I can see from the articles I've read she does pay her "fair share" of taxes, on her income generated in India she pays the tax owed to the Indian government. On her income generated in the UK she paid UK taxes. What is the actual problem with this? Are chancellors not to marry people with income outside this country who pay their tax elsewhere? Is that the problem?

It's just really poor and biased journalism.

For me it's part of a bigger picture.
The wealth disparity in India is disgusting (eg slumdog millionaire). You can see examples of how the poorest are expected to live and those with wealth couldn't give a stuff.

There is now an example of a person who could do some good and massively help to bring a better balance by sacrificing some of that wealth but would rather keep it in the bank doing fuck all because reasons.

This person is married to the chancellor whose job is to redistribute the taxes paid in the UK fairly and beneficially and to ensure that the people of Great Britain have enough for a basic means of living so we don't see scenes here like in India (as an example).
Rishi Rich seems to be acting on the premise that India is better, that people here should be looking forward to seeing standards of living drop while the super rich hoard more money.

His moral compass is screwed seemingly along with the rest of the cabinet, this doesn't surprise me anymore.

I'm still going to blame this morally bankrupt, super rich, dishonest government for the damage they choose to inflict, thank you!

Yes but the point is they can't inflict it if they are not voted in....

This person is married to the chancellor whose job is to redistribute the taxes paid in the UK fairly

It isn't her job though.

Tax avoiders remind me of people who don't stand their round at the pub.
It is usually possible to avoid standing your round but it marks you out as a grade A shit.

As far as I understand, what she is "doing" is not tax planning or tax avoidance. Actually, she's not "doing" anything. She is just following the law as it applies to her situation, a situation that tax considerations have played zero role in determining. There is no action she has taken to reduce her tax, other than to correctly inform HMRC of relevant facts.

She could choose to pay tax in the UK instead of India by bringing money here, but if she already has a few hundred million of income here, and that is enough to cover however many loaves of bread the family needs, why would she? She has strong connections to India, her only citizenship is there, her blood-family are there, most of her wealth is there. It seems perfectly reasonable that she pay tax on her Indian income there.