Retreat on Non-Dom Tax Changes
Following my blog of yesterday it now appears that the Chancellor has retreated on some of his proposals for the taxation of Non-Doms. Dave Hartnett, the Acting Chairman of HM Revenue and Customs has posted a letter on the Revenue website to clarify the Government’s intention in four areas where concerns have been raised.
According to the letter Hartnett wants….
“to make clear that the Government’s intention – which will be set out in legislation to be brought forward – has always been to ensure that:
- those using the remittance basis will not be required to make any additional disclosures about their income and gains arising abroad. So long as they declare their remittances to the UK and pay UK tax on them, they will not be required to disclose information on the source of the remittances;
- there will be no retrospection in the treatment of trusts and the tax changes will not apply to gains accrued or realised prior to the changes coming into effect;
- money brought into the UK to pay the £30,000 charge will not itself be taxable;
and
- it will continue to be possible to bring art works into the UK for public display without incurring a charge to tax.
In addition, we will continue to discuss with the US authorities how the £30,000 charge can become creditable against US tax.”
The full text of Hartnett’s letter can be found here.
This clarification is being interpreted as a retreat or a climb down by the Chancellor. However, a Treasury spokesman has been quoted as saying that the intentions have not changed it is just that the draft legislation has gone “slightly awry”. There are still a number of issues to be resolved and I expect we will have to wait until the Budget on 12 March to get further details.
Keep on watching this space.
