UK ‘non-dom’ tax take rises 6%
Nearly 6,000 of the wealthiest foreigners living in Britain paid £178m for the right to exclude their overseas income from UK tax in the year to 2012, the largest amount raised from the tax charge since it was introduced in 2008. The increased take from the levy, which was 6 per cent bigger than a year earlier, provides further evidence of the UK’s appeal to the global elite, illustrated by a recent surge of foreign money into the London housing market. The preferential tax treatment of "non-dom" individuals – people who are not UK domiciled, usually because they were not born in Britain – remains controversial but is a big part of the UK’s attraction to foreign investors. The Treasury has recently pared back some of the advantages, notably by raising the annual charge from £30,000 to £50,000 in the 2012-13 tax year, for those living in Britain for at least 12 years. But advisers said the UK’s appeal had not been significantly dented. The increased tax charge will only apply to about 3,500 non-doms, according to Treasury estimates. Jenny Tozer, chair of the investment committee at Vestra Wealth, a wealth management group, said UK taxes on foreign residents were still fairly light relative to other jurisdictions. She said: "During the financial crisis France, Italy and Spain ramped up taxes on foreigners who own property, which has only increased the appeal of the UK." Property taxes in the UK are very low by international standards. The maximum rates payable even on luxury mansions in central London are generally below £3,000 per year. Ms Tozer said most of her clients saw the non-dom levy as a "rent" for the privilege of being in the UK but, "given the other advantages of residence, a price generally worth paying". The Treasury has recently announced plans to tighten the rules for "dual contracts", used by executives to exempt from the UK tax the income they earn overseas. It has introduced capital gains tax on property for foreign investors who are not resident in Britain, a group that does not include non-doms although they have been affected by the introduction of an annual charge for properties held in offshore companies. The number of individuals whose foreign incomes were sufficiently high to justify paying the £30,000 charge in 2011-12 represented just one in 20 of those describing themselves as non-dom in their tax returns. The reason most non-doms opted not to pay the charge was because the tax savings from excluding their foreign income from UK taxation would be less than the cost of the charge. The number of people that told the tax authority they were eligible for non-dom status increased by 7,000 to 123,000 in the year to 2011-12, the highest number since 2008-09. A far larger number of foreigners living in Britain are potentially eligible for non-dom status but have opted not to notify the tax authorities. In the first two years after the levy was introduced, the number of people who said they were eligible for non-dom tax status dropped by 16 per cent. Advisers said the fall reflected lay-offs by investment banks which employ many non-doms and a decision by many non-doms to opt out of the status, as they were insufficiently wealthy to justify paying the charge.