Taxman increases tax take from highly paid foreign bankers
Data from law firm Pinsent Masons shows a 23% rise in taxes from foreign ex-pats over two years
THE AMOUNT OF TAX taken from highly paid foreign bankers working in the City has risen by 23% in the last two years.
The data gleaned by law firm Pinsent Masons shows HM Revenue & Customs took £117.2m from its ex-pat team’s compliance work in 2011/12, up from £94.9m in 2009/10.
Approximately £110.8m was brought in during 2010/11.
Foreign ex-pats have traditionally been a high-yielding group for the taxman, despite added complications of issues such as assets held abroad and difficulties moving funds from one country to another.
Pinsent Masons director Ray McCann expressed surprise, however, at the rise in tax take given the current banking climate.
He said: “This rise in additional tax take is interesting given that City bonuses and the number of investment bankers have been slashed since the credit crunch. The eurozone crises and the economic downturn have really depressed investment banking revenues, so HMRC has had to put in a lot of extra effort to increase its take from these investigations.”