To think it sets a really bad example for the country when the PMs family have tax dodged millions

[Chloefairydust]

Just that really…

Im really surprised Sunak actually made it to be prime minister considering the recent stories that have been in the news regarding his family avoiding millions of ££ in tax . I actually thought Boris would have been more likely to have been PM. (Not that he’s any better🤔)

@rosangelanne that flowchart is incomplete - where is chart 3?

Exactly!

I'm not sure why we're still arguing the legalities or her intentions for remaining in the UK.

She is now no longer claiming non-dom status, so obviously she agrees that it looks bad (although legal) - because it does.

Yes she and Rishi should get some praise for deciding to change this.

However - should we be happy that our PM's wife (and by extension the PM) had to be caught out to put things right? This seems to be very much the theme over the last couple of months and years of the Tory party, and doesn't make me feel good about the people running the country.

Even if I wasn't divorced, I always fully intended to return to live in my country of birth semi-permanently or retire there with my then spouse.

You speak without the ability to put yourselves in the shoes of someone who has moved abroad either for love, or work or other opportunities.

Moving abroad doesn't mean you cut all ties - many of us still want to maintain ties with our families of origin and country of origin.

@rosangelanne so when do you think legitimate tax rules shouldn’t apply, only if you are the PM or married to the PM, or other jobs? Or when someone has more money than you?

The irony is not lost on me. The rich get good tax advice. They have opportunities. Some morally questionable.

Us lesser mortals, normal jobs, pay our PAYE or self employed tax return.

People like Bezos, Elon musk, Tony Blair. rich people, use tax to their Advantedge. Most find ways to pay no or minimal tax. Many don't even take a salary, no dividends. Just borrow against their company's worth. It's clever. Is ordinary folk don't have such opportunities.

We've already had opportunity to judge his performance as Chancellor and some of it wasn't good! Eg the way he excluded 3 million workers from the Covid support schemes, lied about it in Parliament, and made no effort (he had nearly 2 years!) to resolve the gaps/flaws in his eligibility criteria.

They apply to everyone, equally. You have to tell the truth.

Being married to the Prime Minister is only relevant because it makes it highly implausible that you intended to leave the country!

If she was divorced from him then perhaps it would be more plausible that she intended to leave.

Well I don't support any tories but I I think he had a fight to get what we did in terms of support so I don't see his actions all bad ( in conetext that he's Tory )

Well I assume he isn’t going to be PM for life so it is feasible they may leave the country at some point

I don't get what is wrong with the PM having a foreign wife?

Many ordinary Brits do

The Queen's spouse was foreign

Prince Harry does

Wait, I forgot - the U.K. has a poor track record of how they treat foreign spouses

@Roja7 I'm an expat myself! I know exactly what I am talking about.

You can only claim non don status for 15 years so retiring to your home country after raising your kids in the UK wouldn't be sufficient to qualify.

I wasn't talking about non dom. I was addressing your point about her not knowing if she was going to live here permanently.

I've been here over 30 years and still don't know that

The discussion is specifically about whether or not this woman legitimately claimed to be non dom for tax purposes. Not about links or ties to your home country, dual citizenship or anything else.

@Roja7 flow chart 3 is irrelevant because you only proceed there if you have no firm plans to stay in the UK long term (ie fir 15 years)

And I think it's been established that she DID legitimately claim non dom - she has not been in the U.K. 15 years yet

I don’t think the non-Dom status is a problem if it’s all done legally and correctly.

I do question him for not foreseeing it becoming an issue though.

Its very obvious that something that many people see as a loophole being used by the wife of a man in charge of fiscal policies was always going to cause raised eyebrows and a lot of fuss.

It makes me wonder a little about how he and his advisors didn’t see it coming. Once it came up they both made big changes so they realised that either they were making errors or it was going to damage his career ambitions. Bit silly not to foresee it and make the changes sooner.

You can only claim to be non dom for 15 years of living in the UK. You can't claim it indefinitely.

They were married in 2009. Unsure if they were in the UK then, but if so, then she would have had to intend to leave the UK permanently sometime in the next couple of years, leaving behind 2 school-aged children and her husband. If she did not have that intention, then she was not entitled to claim non dom status.

They lived in India when they got married

@Roja7 have you managed to find some definitive date that she moved to the UK? I can't see it. It's 13 years since her marriage.

Regardless, Did she still have the intention to leave the UK when her husband was elected to the British parliament in 2014? That would have been a good moment to decide she was staying long term and to correct her tax status.

What year did they move to the UK?

He became an MP in 2015

From what I have read they lived in India for 4 years after they were married. I’m sure HMRC would have checked where and when she lived

That's not what the rules are for non-dom status.

The "15 years" condition is in the link you provided. And it has nothing to do with firm plans to stay in the UK.

Quite!

But rosangelanne seems to be intent on making up thier own Non Dom Status rules

@minou123 I mean, taking you at face value, go and look at the link. The flow chart is from the government advice. That is what it says. Do you think I've doctored it or so something?

That is how you determine non dom status, according to the government. The first question to answer is your intention to remain in the UK.