Darling caves in to non-dom tax resistance
Chancellor Darling has made a major back down on his non-dom tax, dropping many planned disclosure rules
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
Tycoon threatens to quit UK in non-dom furore
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story in The Daily Telegraph