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That’s not quite what the man said…..

After the tax status of the chancellor’s wife emerged on Wednesday, her spokeswoman said it was a consequence of India not allowing its citizens to hold dual nationality. But experts said that she had made a proactive decision to remain a non-dom, meaning she does not have to pay UK tax on foreign earnings.

Dan Neidle, a tax lawyer at Clifford Chance, said “citizenship is irrelevant” to an individual’s tax status and that Murty had made a choice to be a non-dom. He said: “You have to tick a box on your tax return, claiming what’s called the remittance basis. So that’s a choice that she made. The statements implying it wasn’t a choice are a disgrace.”

To be taxed on the remittance basis or not is indeed a choice. Which is what the man said. Which isn’t the same as saying that to be a non-dom is a choice or not. And he didn’t say it was. He said that your domicile is a fact, not a choice.

At least I can read Twitter, apparently more than The Times can…..

15 thoughts on “That’s not quite what the man said…..”

  1. Lets face it, despite all the assurances that “the Chancellors wife’s tax arrangements are perfectly legal, the optics are awful. The Chancellor might know how to read a tax book, but he’s failing to read the room and is paying the price.

    He’s also probably right in saying that this is a hatchet job from someone inside number 10. I certainly wouldn’t put it past BoJo to nobble a rival using something as devious and insidious as this.

    Not saying he did of course, but he might well have done.

  2. Once she has spent 15 of the last 20 years living here, and still lives here, she will be automatically deemed domiciled in the UK by HMRC. She married Rishi in 2009, so presumably it won’t be long before she has to decide whether to stay in the UK or relocate.

  3. Bloke in the Fourth Reich

    Again, what precisely is it about:
    1: Moving to a country
    2: Working in the country for over a decade
    3: Marrying a citizen of the country
    4: Having children by said citizen of the country
    5: Raising said children as British citizens
    6: Showing no signs of any intention to leave the country ever

    That is compatible with the status of “not domiciled”?

  4. Strange how the sisterhood is not rising up to defend a woman who is foreign and plays no part in her husband’s political life

    It’s almost like in victimhood top trumps rich and Tory is really more damning than foreign and a woman

    Damn those principles when we get the chance to smash the eeeevil torreees and class traitors!

  5. How has she managed to stay here 15 years? It took seven years of long hard slog constantly renewing visas before my then-wife became a British citizen, without which she was forever 18 months from being chucked out of the country.

  6. @Starfish – The tax problems of the rich and entitled isn’t exactly a priority with the sisterhood, Tory or otherwise. Now if Rishi’s wife pronounced that she was gender non-binary and “she would henceforth wish to be referred to as Xe/Xer”, then no doubt the sisterhood would be organising a parade in Xer support.

    It’s not that they’re racist, it’s that they’re focussed on “more important problems” 😀

  7. Deemed domicile
    5.21 From 6 April 2017 new deemed domiciled rules apply which change the way a previously UK resident but not UK domiciled individual is treated. An individual who is not domiciled under English common law will be treated as domiciled in the UK for tax purposes if they meet 1 of 2 conditions.

    Condition A – the individual:

    was born in the UK

    their domicile of origin was in the UK

    was resident in the UK for 2017 to 2018 or later years

    Condition B – the individual:

    has been UK resident for at least 15 of the 20 years immediately before the relevant tax year”

    It seems to me that HMRC have their own definition of domicile, which is different from the common law and very similar to residence. If I read this correctly, HMRC can decide for you what your tax domicile is, which is rather different from the former concept. But I don’t see anyone on this thread acknowkedging this.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/residence-domicile-and-remittance-basis-rules-uk-tax-liability/guidance-note-for-residence-domicile-and-the-remittance-basis-rdr1#how-does-domicile-affect-your-uk-income-tax-and-capital-gains-tax-liability

  8. @jgh Money, the right Connections, marrying a political BigWig. The Usual. The Rules for Us and Them.

    The UK still hasn’t shed its class-based shenanigans, and it shows in this kind of Noise.

  9. Oh dear. More bad news for Ms. Murthy. Looks like the IRS might want a piece of her Indian tax income…:

    The revelation that as well as Murty being non-domiciled for tax purposes, the Sunaks were US green card holders, adds to their woes because holders of a US green card are required to pay US taxes on their worldwide income, and to pledge the US is their forever home. The IRS may want to scrutinise her return closely.

    GREEN CARD QUESTIONS COMPLICATE SUNAKS’ TAX AFFAIRS

    I’m guessing the insiders at No. 10 want to keep this story rolling…

  10. @Diogenes.

    The key word is “deemed”. Deemed domicile for tax purposes. It wouldn’t change her legal domicile.

  11. @jgh

    How has she managed to stay here 15 years? It took seven years of long hard slog constantly renewing visas before my then-wife became a British citizen, without which she was forever 18 months from being chucked out of the country.

    Ah, but I’ll bet your wife is white.

  12. My Chinese-born Hong Kong ex-wife is indeed whiter than I am due to three years of working from home.

  13. @Bloke in the Fourth Reich – “what precisely is it about: … That is compatible with the status of “not domiciled”?”

    All of it. Domicile is a specific technical term which does not mean any of those things you mention. It’s effectively where you intend to make your final home. Given that Akshata Murty married Rishi Sunak in India, I find it entirely plausible that she currently intends to retire to India some day. That would make her domicile be India.

    @John Galt

    I suspect the green card is a red herring! You may need to intend to make the US your permanent home when getting one, but people can change their mind and, given that she met Rishi in America, it’s quite possible that this made her change her plans so that she could live with him in Britain. If so, it is highly likely she gave up her green card quite some time ago.

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