UK FINANCE MIN DRAWS FURTHER IRE OVER WIFE’S TAX STATUS
LONDON: Chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murthy, holds nondomiciled status in the UK, meaning she doesn’t pay British taxes on her foreign earnings.
The tax status, first revealed by the Independent and confirmed in a statement by a spokesperson for Murthy, could potentially save Murthy millions of pounds over many years in UK tax payments. Murthy is the daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, and she owns 0.93% of the company’s shares, according to Bloomberg data. That’s valued at almost $1 billion.
Murthy “is a citizen of India, the country of her birth and parent’s home”, a spokesperson said in a statement. “India does not allow its citizens to hold the citizenship of another country simultaneously. So, according to British law, Ms Murthy is treated as non-domiciled for UK tax purposes. She has always and will continue to pay UK taxes on all her UK income.”
While there is no suggestion the chancellor or his wife have broken any laws, the revelation will add to the perception that Sunak is out of touch with the struggles of ordinary Britons. The chancellor has been losing support of both the public and within his own Conservative Party in recent weeks, after delivering a mini-budget in March that critics said doesn’t do enough to tackle a growing cost-of-living crisis.
Sunak declared Murthy’s tax status to the cabinet office when he first became a minister in 2018, and the Treasury was also made aware in order to manage any potential conflicts. Murthy has lived in the UK for nine years, and after 15 years in the country will automatically be deemed domiciled in Britain for tax purposes.