Treasury to ‘struggle’ if non-dom consultation waylaid

The UK Treasury accidentally alerted the public to a long-awaited consultation paper on the tax treatment of non-domiciles, despite the document not yet being in the public domain.

Treasury to ‘struggle’ if non-dom consultation waylaid

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Following Tuesday’s mishap, financial planning expert at Old Mutual Wealth Rachael Griffin said the Treasury needs to issue its consultation on the proposed non-domicile changes soon or it will struggle to implement the changes in time for April 2017.

The changes, announced in chancellor George Osborne’s Summer Budget, mean anyone resident in the UK for more than 15 of the past 20 years will pay full British taxes on their entire income and gains. Previously non-doms had to be in the country for 17 years to pay full UK taxes.

This is a huge overhaul of the system which has been in place since the early 1900s.

A spokeswoman from the Treasury was unable to give a timeframe for when the proposed non-dom changes would be released.

Make alternative plans

“Anyone approaching or exceeding the 15 years should still assume they have until 6 April 2017 to make alternative plans or be deemed domicile for UK inheritance tax purposes and lose the option to choose the remittance basis of taxation,” said Griffin.

“People shouldn’t stop making arrangements due to scepticism over timescales and the non-publication of the consultation.”

The changes are expected to raise £1.5bn in extra tax for the government’s coffers.

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