Draft legislation - non-domiciled individuals

02 February 2017

Draft legislation has been published which amends the rules for certain non-domiciled individuals so they will be treated as domiciled in the UK for the purposes of Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax and Inheritance Tax from the 2017 to 2018 tax year.

As previously announced, from April 2017, non-domiciled individuals will be deemed UK-domiciled for tax purposes if they have been UK resident for 15 of the past 20 years, or if they were born in the UK with a UK domicile of origin. Non-domiciled individuals who have a non-UK resident trust set up before they become deemed-domiciled in the UK will not be taxed on income and gains arising outside the UK and retained in the trust.

To close a loophole, from April 2017, inheritance tax will be charged on UK residential property when it is held indirectly by a non-domiciled individual through an offshore structure, such as a company or a trust.

The government will change the rules for the Business Investment Relief (BIR) scheme from April 2017 to make it easier for non-domiciled individuals who are taxed on the remittance basis to bring offshore money into the UK for the purpose of investing in UK businesses.