City urges non-dom tax reform delay

Chancellor told to hold back on changes for a year to avoid errors

Written by Nicholas Neveling

Accountancy Age, 13 Feb 2008

The City has urged the government to delay its changes to the taxation of non-domiciled residents in order to avoid unforeseen errors in the future.

'Don’t rush into it and then have to sort it out afterwards ... the dangers in this [to the City] could be quite big if you get it wrong,' Miles Templeman, director-general of the Institute of Directors, told the FT.

Alistair Darling has already been forced into a u-turn on his original proposals, and has had to assure the City that authorities would not sift through the overseas finances of non-doms and that gains already accrued in overseas trusts would not be taxed.

But it is predicted that business will continue to push for further climbdowns, including a stay of execution and a further rethink.

The Treasury blamed ambiguities in the draft legislation for ambiguities over the intention of the changes.

Business maintains that the changes were pushed through in a hurried and chaotic manner and were not consulted on properly.