Press Room
Chancellor forced to eat his words on Non Doms
In an acknowledgement of the complexity of the rules that were
introduced for non-domiciled (non-doms) and not ordinarily resident
individuals in 2008, the Government has had to back down on its
commitment not to revisit the tax rules in the current and next
parliamentary term.
Today's measures include:
Removal of the filing obligation for certain groups
The obligation to file a self assessment return where
individuals have overseas employment income of less than £10,000
and overseas bank interest of less than £100 in any tax year, all
of which is subject to a foreign tax a return will be removed with
effect from 6 April 2008.
Exempt assets
Exemptions are extended to allow property purchased out of
foreign employment income and foreign chargeable gains as well as
relevant foreign income with effect from 6 April 2008.
Gift aid donations
Finance Bill 2009 will amend the remittance basis rules to
ensure that non doms that pay the £30,000 remittance basis charge
will have this charge treated in the same way as other types of
income tax or capital gains for the purposes of Gift Aid with
effect from 6 April 2008.
The Chancellor announced in last year's Budget that foreign
individuals who have been living in Britain for seven or more tax
years will pay tax on their offshore income and gains kept outside
of the UK unless they pay a £30,000 annual 'remittance basis
charge'. If they have lived in the UK for fewer than seven years,
they only have to pay UK tax on foreign income and gains when these
are remitted into the UK.
Chris Mills, director at Grant Thornton says, "These 'minor'
amendments will in the main help to clarify the rules, but are an
admission of the complexity created last year. Many of these
amendments have been backdated to April 2008 when the original
legislation became effective. This shows what happens when
legislation is conceived, drafted and introduced too
quickly."