07-07-2025
Wealthy UK households rush to leave England over tax change
Labour has been warned over a "flight of the non-doms" as the super-rich flock to leave the UK. Reports say the wealthy elite are leaving over tax changes – prompting a possible rethink by Rachel Reeves, the Labour Party Chancellor.
More than 20 luxury properties in the Belgravia postcode are on the market, says a buying agent. One Indian non-dom, who has been living in the UK for the past five years, said she was considering moving her family to Switzerland as a result of the tax changes.
'We love England. We feel very much at home here,' she told the Guardian. 'We want to pay fair tax as members of society. But the biggest pain point was inheritance tax … it is not just ours, but my grandfather's and my parents' wealth that would now be taxed by the UK. That feels deeply unfair as the money was not made here.
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'The current philosophical approach seems to be shrinking everyone's pie instead of enlarging the pie, bringing more investment, employability and wealth to the country.'
Sean Cockburn, of the advisers Forvis Mazars, said: 'There has been an acceptance of higher income and capital gains but the emotional trigger has been inheritance tax. That seems to be the motivator for those moving. But not everyone is leaving the UK entirely.
'Yes some people have left, some people are considering it, but some people have decided to stay and are broadly accepting of the new rules. In the media there have been very high-profile, very wealthy people leaving who receive a lot of coverage. I personally have not had many clients leaving.'
"Non-dom" describes a UK resident whose permanent home - or domicile - for tax purposes is outside the UK.
It refers to a person's tax status, and has nothing to do with their nationality, citizenship or resident status - although it can be affected by these factors.
A non-dom only pays UK tax on the money they earn in the UK. They do not have to pay tax to the UK government on money made elsewhere in the world (unless they pay that money into a UK bank account).
For wealthy individuals, this presents the opportunity for significant - and entirely legal - savings, if they nominate a lower-tax country as their domicile.
