Labour has called for clarity over why Rishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, uses non-domicile status, as Keir Starmer said it would be “breathtaking hypocrisy” if she had been reducing her tax liabilities while the chancellor was raising taxes on others.
Murty receives about £11.5m in annual dividends from a stake in her family’s IT business empire, Infosys.
Under UK tax laws, Murty’s status as a non-dom means she would not have to pay tax on dividend payments from overseas companies. Infosys is headquartered in Bengaluru, India, and listed on the Indian and New York stock exchanges. UK resident taxpayers pay a 38.1% tax on dividend payouts.
After her status was revealed by the Independent a spokesperson for Murty said that because she was a citizen of India, which does not allow Indians to hold the citizenship of another country simultaneously, she “is treated as non-domiciled for UK tax purposes”. They added: “She has always and will continue to pay UK taxes on all her UK income.”
However, tax experts have said non-dom status is not automatic but a choice.
Prof Richard Murphy, a Sheffield University academic who co-founded the Tax Justice Network, said:
Domicile has nothing to do with a person’s nationality. In other words, the claims made in the statement issued by Ms Murty are wrong, and as evidence, just because a person has Indian citizenship will never automatically grant them non-dom status in the UK.
The Labour MP Chris Bryant said the statement needed to be clarified:
This is just wrong. Non-dom status is not automatic and the Treasury needs to urgently clarify this inaccurate statement.
After shutting down legitimate questions about Infosys and its operations in Russia last week, it’s time for Rishi Sunak to come clean.
Starmer said Sunak “has very, very serious questions to answer”.
Rishi Sunak says his better half is being spread and entirely misunderstands didn’t do anything in a column over her non-dom tax status
The chancellor’s better half has non-house status, which she and her significant other say is on the grounds that she can’t have double citizenship with India.
In a meeting with The Sun, hitting back at assaults by resistance MPs on his multi-tycoon spouse, he said: “She loves her nation like I love mine.”
