year in dividends from it.
Over the past seven and a
half years she would have
saved as much as £20 million
in UK taxes.
Why has she now agreed to
pay UK tax?
In short, to save her
husband’s political career.
While her tax arrangements
are entirely legal, the
disclosure that Murty is a
non-dom has raised
uncomfortable questions
about Sunak’s wealth. Critics
have challenged the fact that
his wife has been able to
reduce her UK tax bill even as
he had been raising taxes for
ordinary Britons.to HMRC by ticking a box on
their tax return, however this
is optional and they can opt
to pay UK tax on their
worldwide wealth.
How did Akshata Murty
benefit?
As an Indian national resident
in the UK, Murty’s ability to
claim non-dom status allowed
her to earn money abroad
without paying tax in Britain
for up to 15 years.
She paid the £30,000 fee
to retain the benefit. The
daughter of an Indian
business tycoon, she has a
stake in an IT firm he founded
and is thought to receive
approximately £11.5 million aHis spokesman said he
returned the card in 2021
after discussions with the US
authorities ahead of his first
visit as chancellor. However,
others have suggested that he
is likely to have had it revoked
after US officials realised he
was no longer a permanent
resident.
Did Sunak benefit
financially from having a
green card?
Experts believe the
chancellor’s decision to
retain the green card is likely
to have increased the amount
of tax he paid. This is because
the US requires holders to
pay taxes on their global
Having non-dom status can
provide people who have
significant wealth overseas
with significant tax
advantages, as it means they
do not have to pay tax in the
UK on their earnings
elsewhere. This includes
foreign investments, rental
payments and bank interest,
providing they do not bring
this money into the UK. They
continue to pay tax on their
income in Britain.
For the first seven years
that non-doms are based in
the UK, they can claim their
exemptions free of charge.
However, someone who has
been a non-dom for at least
seven of the previous nine taxup sooner?
The US government website
states that people who have
been absent for a year
effectively abandon their
right to a green card.
While Sunak owns a home
in California, it is hard to see
how he could be classed as a
permanent resident in the US
while serving as an elected
British MP.
Card holders are required
to inform the US Citizenship
and Immigration Services if
they change their address in
or outside the US. It is unclear
whether Sunak did so, or
informed the US authorities
that his permanent residence
was, in fact, in the UK.People familiar with the
system suggest the onus is on
holders of green cards to
inform the authorities of a
change in status.
What is a non-dom?
Someone who is resident in
the UK but chooses to declare
on their tax return that their
permanent home, or
“domicile”, is overseas. There
are more than 238,000 non-
doms living in the UK.
The exemption dates back
to the 18th century, when
income tax was first
introduced. It was created to
shield wealthy colonials from
huge tax bills on wealth
generated overseas.Sunak’s venison soirées
kept his rural voters
well fed and on side
The Sunday Times April 10, 2022 5
planning committee approved
the plan last August despite
controversy over its size and
appearance. The official plan
for the area is to support
development only in
“exceptional” cases. Such
cases must relate to farming,
environmental improvement,
affordable housing, reusing
existing buildings, renewable
energy, or economic
regeneration. It is unclear
where Sunak’s “spa”, as some
locals call it, would fit with the
six categories provided by the
council’s development plan
for the hamlet.
The swimming pool is also
being built in the area of an
archaeological site belonging
to a 14th-century medieval
village, according to the
North Yorkshire historic
environment record.
Robin Harker, a farmer
whose land adjoins Sunak’s
property, has a chunk of the
deserted village in his field. “I
haven’t been able to use my
field for crops,” he said.
Andy Wake, a Conservative
councillor on Hambleton
council who voted against
Sunak’s plans, said: “I didn’t
think it was in keeping with
the area. It was made out to be
a building which in my
opinion wasn’t as described.”
The council said the
proposed development was
considered to result in “no
harmful impact” on the
setting on the listed building
or the character of the
countryside.
A Treasury spokesman did
not comment.
@davidcollinsSTturns up to lots of local
events. Rishi may be
chancellor but he’s never
forgotten that it’s the local
people who got him elected.”
Sunak moved into the
house in about 2013, and it
has become the bolt-hole
where he goes to relax. The
only grumblings in the hamlet
have been directed at the
couple’s decision to build a
huge leisure complex in their
garden, which will include a
20-metre swimming pool, a
gym and a tennis court. Last
week a large yellow digger
and group of men in hard hats
and fluorescent jackets were
hard at work on the site. A
lattice of metal beams
outlines where the building
will soon be completed.
The district council’sLate on Thursday evening, a
taxi turned up in the hamlet
of Kirby Sigston in North
Yorkshire, and out stepped
Rishi Sunak, his wife Akshata
Murty, and their two young
daughters.
It is a common enough
sight for neighbours of the
chancellor’s grade II listed
manor house, built in 1826.
His daughters, Krishna and
Anoushka, are often seen
riding ponies around the
west-facing fields attached to
the former vicarage, which
features a lake.
Sunak, who has been MP
for Richmond, Yorkshire,
since 2015, is popular with
the local residents, which
surprised Beani Thompson,
whose family once owned
Sunak’s home, and who now
lives in a large cottage on the
same road. “North Yorkshire
farmers can be a grumpy old
bunch — suspicious of
outsiders, always moaning
about money,” she said. “But
they embraced him.”
Sunak, 41, and Akshata, 42,
regularly host neighbours at
dinners and parties. Late-
night supper clubs of red
wine and roasted venison,
and garden parties featuring a
marquee, champagne and
canapés, are a hot ticket in
North Yorkshire.
Thompson has attended
Sunak’s soirées, hosted by
Akshata, a woman she
describes as “charming and
kind”. When Thompson’s
sister, Di, had cancer, Akshata
would make regular visits for
a chat and to drop off cake.
One memorable “Sunak
supper” was in the spring of
2016, a few weeks before the
EU referendum. The party
began at 7pm and went on
until late. A three-course
meal was served up by
catering staff hired for the
evening. “He was popular
that night with all the dairy
farmers who came to the
supper,” Thompson recalled.
“It was just before the Brexit
vote, and he was telling
people why he thought
leaving Europe was the thing
to do. I disagreed. I told him
to stop talking about politics
and all that Brexit nonsense.
He took it very well.”
The manor house hosted
two large garden parties
before the pandemic hit, both
fundraisers for the Richmond
Conservative Association.
Tickets sold for £20 a head,
and uniformed staff served
champagne and canapés in a
marquee on the lawn by the
lake. Sunak then gave
St Lawrence Church, situated
behind his manor house, use
of the marquee for its own
events. The chancellor, a
Hindu, has been known to
attend church services
himself from time to time.
“After the garden parties,
Rishi and Akshata come up
the road and leave me the
leftovers,” Thompson said.
“Cakes. Pastries. Sandwiches.
They’re thoughtful, like that. I
don’t think anybody gives a
stuff round here if Akshata’s a
nom-dom. Look at everyone
else ... all the farmers, taking
subsidy money from the EU
and the government. What’s
the difference?”
David Hugill, a
Conservative councillor for
Kirby Sigston, and friend of
Sunak and Murty, said the
garden parties were always
very popular. “I couldn’t get a
ticket,” he laughed. “They sell
out straight away. I would say
Akshata took a little bit of
time to get used to being a
politician’s wife, but now sheDavid Collins
Northern EditorI don’t think
anyone here
gives a stuff if
Akshata is a
non-domGarden parties at Rishi
Sunak’s Yorkshire manor
house are a hot ticketinterpreted as a shot across the Trea-
sury’s bows, he added: “The days of there
being lots of different opinions about
things are over. We are not advocates for
government, we are advocates for a Con-
servative government.” He warned the
next three months would “get quite
punchy” as the rise in the cost of living
bites. “We have to show people we are on
their side.”
At the same meeting Meg Powell-Chan-
dler, another senior official, outlined the
government’s new narrative for voters, a
four-point plan: growing the economy to
help with the cost of living; making our
streets safer; funding the NHS; and pro-
viding leadership in challenging times.
The chancellor is integral to two of
those four missions and it is possible to
imagine that Johnson moves Sunak from
the Treasury — perhaps in a job swap with
foreign secretary Liz Truss — at a reshuffle
expected between the local elections
and the summer break.
Tory MPs see Sunak’s links to the
US and wonder if he plans even to
live here when his career is over. It
is understood he had to be
advised to stop calling California
“home” when he visited last
December.
Allies say it is untrue that he
plans to leave and that it was
Sunak’s love of Britain that caused the
couple to return to the UK. A family
friend said: “The reason they moved to
the UK was that Rishi said, ‘I really miss
my home.’ He missed the UK, he missed
his mum and dad.”
But his family was always going to be
politically complicated because it is
so novel. A cabinet minister said:
“He married into a super-rich
family and he clearly isn’t the
primary decision-maker.”
His marriage at least seems to
have survived the week intact. One
source said: “He feels responsible that
she has had her affairs dragged into pub-
lic view. She feels responsible for the polit-
ical problems he is going through.”
A leak inquiry is now under way to find
the culprit who leaked Murty’s tax
details. A senior government official said:
“There’s going to be a full Cabinet Office
and HM Treasury investigation to estab-
lish who had this information and if any-
one has requested that information. It is
more serious than a leak inquiry because
divulging the tax status of a private indi-
vidual is a criminal offence.”
But for Tory MPs the mystery is what
this means for Sunak. His leadership stock
has been badly damaged. A party official
said: “It’s the first time he’s really been
tested and he hasn’t handled it well.”
Even friends now openly question
whether he even really wants the top job.
They also wonder now whether Sunak
might just quit. A cabinet minister who
admires Sunak but is not a close ally said:
“This might well make him walk away.”
Time will tell whether this was the
moment a political Icarus flew too close
to the sun or the moment a promising
minister learnt the facts of life about poli-
tics and began to rise again.ILLUSTRATION: JAMES COWENSUNDAY TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JAMES GLOSSOPincome, meaning that once
back in the UK, Sunak would
have continued to pay US tax
as well as UK tax on his
income in Britain.
One tax specialist said the
amount of tax paid to the US
internal revenue service
would not be significant
because, under UK-US tax
treaties, his bill would have
been offset by tax paid to HM
Revenue & Customs.
Murty is thought to have
been required to pay US taxes
on her significant global
income, which she was able
to avoid in the UK due to
having non-dom status.
Should Sunak have given ityears must pay a £30,000-a-
year charge. Once they have
been non-doms for at least
12 of the previous 14 tax
years, this rises to £60,000.
How do you qualify?
There are three ways. The
first is to use your domicile of
origin, which means where
your father was born. You
can also use a domicile of
choice, where you make
somewhere else your
permanent home and pay tax
there. Finally, there is
domicile of dependency,
where a minor acquires the
domicile of their father. A
non-dom usually has to self-
report their non-dom status