Treasury says just 4,000 non-doms face levy

Government says only 4,000 non-doms will have to pay its new levy

Written by Nicholas Neveling

Accountancy Age, 22 Oct 2007

The Treasury has said that only 4,000 non-dom taxpayers will have to pay the £30,000 levy in order to claim tax exemptions on foreign income.

The new levy, announced in the PBR, comes into effect in April next year. The non-dom issue has become a major political battleground, as the Tories and Labour bicker over how much revenue can be raised by changing non-dom tax rules.

Speaking before the Treasury Select Committee, Mark Neale, tax director at the Treasury, said that because the levy would only be charged to non-doms who have been in the UK for longer than seven years, only a small percentage would have to pay.

Neale said only 4,000 would have to pay the charge.

There are currently 114,000 taxpayers who claim non-dom tax status, but financial secretary Jane Kennedy has admitted in an answer to a parliamentary question that more applications will be processed.