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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:
Thread gallery
5
hypaingea · 07/04/2022 08:45

On one hand it's good people are angry, people should be angry at the inequality.

ProfessorLayton1 · 07/04/2022 08:46

@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.

Seems fair to me, I am of Indian origin. This is right, she pays tax in India.

Infosys is one of the good employers in India, Google infosys foundation who do a lot for the underprivileged sections of Indian society.
She is not the one putting up the taxes and making the cost of living go up!
Leave her alone, why should a women be responsible for what her husband decides to do in his job.

Getoff · 07/04/2022 08:47

OK her UK income may not be a few hundred million. The number of millions is not essential to my argument.

MarshaBradyo · 07/04/2022 08:47

@MigsandTiggs

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.
This
Anglophobia · 07/04/2022 08:48

@Zonder

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.
This. Being non-dom is for a country you don’t live in. She lives here.

Also, what is with having a holiday home in California ? The fucking carbon emissions of getting there

NoOtherShadeOfBlue · 07/04/2022 08:49

@hypaingea

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....

Sure, but they're voted in on the basis of lies for which they should be held accountable. So it's important that stories like this one are made public and that people do get angry about the disparity and the hypocrisy exemplified by this - we can't afford to let the Tories sweep partygate or this or any other scandals under the carpet. Threads like this one are important. The government won't hold themselves to account; we have to so that they can't get away with false promises followed by ruin again.
OutingHobby · 07/04/2022 08:49

@whynotwhy

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.
But in this case its more like she's in the pub and is paying for her round in this pub while also joining in a round in another pub.
JanisMoplin · 07/04/2022 08:51

@littledrummergirl

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.

Please do some reading about Infosys and how it was started by a pretty poor couple who came from nothing in a country with no social security system, and how it has greatly helped reduce income disparity in India. They are not the usual run of billionaires. Akshata pays taxes towards the country that helped her parents build Infosys. As she should.
Biker47 · 07/04/2022 08:52

She lives in this country, she chooses not to pay her fair share of taxes. Shame on her.

What's "fair share"? No-one can ever define that.

She's paying UK taxes on her UK income, she is not paying UK taxes on income earned elsewhere, like exactly every other person who is legally able to non-domicile.

loves2plan · 07/04/2022 08:52

@hypaingea

On one hand it's good people are angry, people should be angry at the inequality.
The inequality of what? She pays tax, both on her earnings here and on her dividends in India.

This is such a non-story 😴

Ginajo · 07/04/2022 08:54

She's doing nothing illegal. She should not be judged by who she is married to. She's independently wealthy.

tigger1001 · 07/04/2022 08:54

"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 sp"

She wouldn't have to be domiciled here to pay tax here. It is a choice. She could pay tax on worldwide income as uk resident or she can claim the remittance basis. She can change that each year if she wanted to up to 15 years (I think it's 15) when she will be deemed domiciled for tax in the uk.

She will pay the remittance charge and won't be able to bring in the money to the uk without tax

EstelleCostanza · 07/04/2022 08:55

I find it so, so telling about the modern Labour Party that they are happy to assume as her husband he must automatically be responsible for and entitled to control her affairs.
The sexism is repellent.

Ginajo · 07/04/2022 08:55

The media would be better investigating the companies who illegally trousered furlough payments while their staff were still working.

NeedAHoliday2021 · 07/04/2022 08:56

Indian woman pays tax UK on money earned here but rest in Indian… why are you outraged by this? It’s legal and makes sense. The fact she’s wealthy means people and be media will imply what she’s doing is wrong but it is totally legal and not even a grey area!

ancientgran · 07/04/2022 08:56

@Biker47

She lives in this country, she chooses not to pay her fair share of taxes. Shame on her.

What's "fair share"? No-one can ever define that.

She's paying UK taxes on her UK income, she is not paying UK taxes on income earned elsewhere, like exactly every other person who is legally able to non-domicile.

She is married, has children and is settled in this country. Technically she may qualify as non dom in reality she isn't and she should pay tax the same as anyone else settled in this country.
OfstedOffred · 07/04/2022 08:56

Op are you are an international tax expert?

No? Didnt think so.

Double taxation is usually recoverable. She would almost certainly be paying more tax in India on the income than here, even to the extent the uk india treaty provides for dividends to be taxed in both countries.

It's completely normal for someone who's a citizen of another country to be non-dom in the UK.

It's not like she is domiciled in bvi or Monaco. India's tax system is far more of a crazy minefield than the UK.

ancientgran · 07/04/2022 08:57

@Ginajo

The media would be better investigating the companies who illegally trousered furlough payments while their staff were still working.
Another great idea from the Sunak family.
missmoon · 07/04/2022 08:57

Lots of people on here saying that she doesn’t need to pay taxes in the UK on her Indian income because she’s an Indian national. That’s not how it works!

She has to pay taxes on her worldwide income in the UK if she is normally resident in the UK, regardless of nationality. The only way to get out of this is by claiming “non-dom” status. The vast majority of Indian citizens in the UK pay taxes here and don’t have non-dom status. Non-dom status isn’t automatic, she would have had to apply for it, and provided proof that she isn’t normally resident in this country and has stronger links with India. She would have hard to show (for example) that she lives in India (or visits) a good part of the year, her children go to school there, she is planning to move back there in the near future, her links to India are stronger than her links to the UK, etc.

This seems a bit hard to square with the fact that her husband lives in Downing Street, is an MP, and wants to be prime minister! Also, her children presumably go to school here and not in India.

It’s relevant because (a) the family are saving a huge amount in tax, while the rest of us have to pay, and (b) her husband writes the rules on non-dom status and taxation! There is a massive conflict of interest.

JanisMoplin · 07/04/2022 08:58

@ancientgran she does pay taxes in this country the same as anyone else. Why do you think she does not?

EstelleCostanza · 07/04/2022 08:59

It’s not a technical matter. The principle is you pay taxes in your country of domicile plus on any income you bring onshore in the uk.
I also find the assumption that we should get the tax take rather than India pretty repellent. Why re our entitlements greater?

forinborin · 07/04/2022 09:00

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.

Do you think taxes she does pay in the UK do not cover what she takes out in health care and schooling for the children? I doubt, but if so, this is of course not ideal. I hope you hold everyone to the same standard.

Or do you mean that taxes paid on added value created by Indian workers on (mainly) territory of India should go and pay towards British people welfare, only because a passive investor in the capital is physically in Britain? I think you guys tried this colonialism thingy before and it wasn't a real success?

IncompleteSenten · 07/04/2022 09:00

I'm shocked. Shocked I tell you.

These things could be changed. The system could be fairer. The loopholes that allow really rich people and massive companies to pay far less than their fair share could be closed but why would any government ever do that when it benefits them far much more not to.

OutingHobby · 07/04/2022 09:02

(b) her husband writes the rules on non-dom status and taxation! There is a massive conflict of interest. I imagine the conflict of interest is flagged on the relevant people's records and HMRC check their returns carefully. You can't exclude a person from the rules just because their husband made the rules.

OutingHobby · 07/04/2022 09:03

@EstelleCostanza

It’s not a technical matter. The principle is you pay taxes in your country of domicile plus on any income you bring onshore in the uk. I also find the assumption that we should get the tax take rather than India pretty repellent. Why re our entitlements greater?
I agree. It seems very greedy and money grabbing.