Fewer people claimed non-dom tax status in UK ahead of Government crackdown
The number of non-dom taxpayers in the UK dipped last year prior to the UK Government clamping down on the tax status, official figures show.
There were about 73,700 people claiming non-domiciled tax status in the year ending in April last year, according to estimates from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
This was 400 fewer than the 2022-23 tax year, or a dip of about 0.5%.
The number of non-doms, according to self-assessment tax returns, stood 3,900 below that in the tax year ending 2020.
It indicates a slowdown in the number of people claiming the tax status following a post-pandemic resurgence.
Non-domiciled means UK residents whose permanent home, or their “domicile” for tax purposes, is outside the UK.
Overseas
The regime meant that so-called non-doms paid tax in the UK only on income generated in the UK – meaning any income earned overseas was exempt from British taxation.
However, the Labour Government abolished the non-dom tax status in April following backlash that wealthy residents could enjoy the benefits of living in the UK without paying as much tax.
Clampdown
Previous chancellor Jeremy Hunt estimated that scrapping the regime would raise about £2.7 billion for the Treasury by 2028-29.
Recent data showed the UK saw the biggest fall in billionaires on record amid the Government non-dom clampdown.
The Sunday Times Rich List said there were fewer of the world’s “super rich” coming to live in Britain.
HMRC’s data published on Thursday showed that some £9 billion was raised from non-doms paying income tax, capital gains tax and national insurance last year.
This was a £107 million increase on the prior year, despite the dip in the number of individuals.
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No real harm done if they don’t feel they should contribute to the country in a really meaningful way. We don’t need them.
Those 73,00 where paying between £30-60K per year to the UK Government. So you only pay that sort of money if you are making a tax saving larger than that figure.
A huge number of non-doms dropped out of the system when they introduced those charges since they made no where near that level of tax savings to make paying the charge worthwhile or economic.ie those where the ones who where the true workers and therefore wealth generators.
The problem with the non-dom scheme is that it assumes the UK is better just for having super rich people here. But they might actually pay no tax at all if they don’t have any UK business interests. Perhaps there could be a system where anyone can exempt their overseas earnings if they invest an amount equivalent to the tax due on overseas earnings into UK businesses in the same tax year.