Bowing to fierce opposition from business leaders, city banks and government advisers alike, the chancellor has made significant concessions over his crackdown on non-domiciled UK residents, dropping several of his planned financial disclosure rules.
In a letter ‘clarifying’ the issue yesterday, David Hartnett, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) acting chairman, withdrew some of the most contentious features of the non-dom plan. However, the plans to charge long-standing non-doms a £30,000 annual levy still stands, but other measures are watered down considerably.
These include no longer asking for detailed information about offshore trusts; not taxing works of art brought into the UK for public display; and not taxing money brought into the UK to pay the £30,000 levy.
The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), whose members advise 22,000 wealthy non-doms, warned the concessions were inadequate. ‘This is not a U-turn and the City should not stand down,’ Keith Johnston, STEP director of policy, told The Daily Telegraph:
Further reading:
Darling signals rethink on non-dom tax
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