Ineos tycoon escapes to tax haven Monaco
BRITISH billionaire Sir Jim ratcliffe has become an official resident of Monaco, joining a host of other tycoons to relocate to the tax haven.
The city state on the French riviera is listed as the 67-year-old’s main home, replacing hampshire, according to filings published by Companies house this week.
ratcliffe, a high-profile supporter of Brexit, is the founder of chemicals giant Ineos and boasts an estimated fortune of £12.2bn. he ranks as the UK’s fifth-richest person, according to the Sunday Times rich List, and owns sports clubs, including cycling’s Ineos Grenadiers.
his relocation to Monaco was first reported in 2018 – the same year he was knighted by the Queen for ‘services to business and to investment’. But it was claimed last year that plans for ratcliffe and two other Ineos bosses to become tax residents of Monaco had sparked a rift with auditor PwC.
The relocation is thought to have saved the trio as much as £4bn. But reports of the disagreement with PwC are said to have contributed to a ‘breakdown’ in the relationship later on between the firm and Ineos, which later sacked it and appointed rival Deloitte instead. Before he left for Monaco, ratcliffe was reportedly the third-biggest individual taxpayer in the UK, making an annual contribution of £110m to Treasury coffers.
he has used some of his fortune to splash out on a £91m expedition ship called Sherpa – which is designed to travel to extreme locations – and a £115m luxury yacht, dubbed hampshire II.
ratcliffe is not the only wealthy Briton to move to Monaco in recent years. Topshop tycoon Sir Philip Green is also another wellknown resident, as well as Matalan founder John hargreaves, billionaire brothers David and
Simon reuben and Yorkshire mobility tycoon John Jakes.
Sir James Dyson, inventor and Britain’s richest man, was also reported last year to have become a permanent resident in Singapore after buying the country’s most expensive penthouse for £42m. he had earlier announced his company was moving its headquarters from Britain to Singapore because of the growing importance of markets in Asia. But moves by ratcliffe and others to tax havens have previously been condemned by MPs as ‘obscene’ and ‘deeply cynical’.
Yesterday former Public Accounts Committee chairman Dame Margaret hodge said: ‘It seems Jim ratcliffe is so rich he can’t afford to pay his taxes.
‘While his tax contributions to the public purse will be missed, I’m not sure the same can be said about him.’
An Ineos spokesman said: ‘We don’t comment on the personal details of our directors and employees.’