17% drop in number of wealthy non-doms paying UK tax

[SevenRivers]

Not being widely reported at the moment, heard a segment on BBC News this morning but can't find it on the BBC website.

 

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2c255d46-87fe-11e2-b011-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2NEVhVpw7

 

Basically the number of wealthy non-domiciled individuals registered with HMRC to pay tax here in the UK has dropped 17% since introducing a £30k annual levy on them. It was put up to £50k in 2012. Property taxation and the 50p tax rate is also driving them away.

 

The number of taxpayers registered as non-domiciled with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has been steadily falling since 2008, when a charge aimed at these individuals was introduced.

 

The annual remittance basis charge was originally set at £30,000 a year for all non-doms who have been in the UK for seven years, but raised to £50,000 a year in 2012 for those who have been in the UK for twelve years.

 

Pinsent Masons, the international law firm, said the non-dom levy was one of several measures, including the annual property tax and the 50p tax rate, that have been driving wealthy individuals away from the UK.

 

“The UK’s tax code is seen as becoming increasingly hostile to wealthy individuals, especially those from overseas,” said Jason Collins, head of tax at Pinsent Masons.

 

“There is a conflict here with the prime minister’s promise to roll out the red carpet for wealthy foreigners, and it is also potentially undermining new tax rules introduced in 2012 to attract non-dom investment in UK businesses.”

 

Mark Davies at Mark Davies & Associates, the accountancy firm added: “These rules are highly complex and have failed to collect more tax and non-doms have curtailed their expenditure in the UK for fear of inadvertently triggering a remittance charge. These rules could be easily redirected to encourage expenditure which would increase VAT revenues.”

 

Figures obtained by a Freedom of Information request revealed that the number of non-doms registered with HMRC dropped to 116,000 in the tax year to April 2011, from 140,000 in the tax year to April 2008 – a fall of 17 per cent.

 

Emboldened a couple of the more important points and this ties in well with the Ray Winstone thread....high taxes on wealthy people are driving them away and they spend their money elsewhere.

[El Cid]

If they cannot even pay a £50k annual levy, they cannot be that wealthy. If they earned £200K, that is only 25%