Some of Britain’s richest people – worth more than £1bn ($1.3bn, €1.1bn) each – are going offshore, with 28 out of 93 billionaires either living or moving to ‘tax havens’, a The Times investigation has found.
The billionaires have declared in their company filings that they are residents, living in or about to move to low-tax jurisdictions.
However, that is not the same as being a non-resident in the UK for tax purposes, as their tax residency is not disclosed in public documents.
The jurisdictions most preferred by British billionaires and business owners are Monaco, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Switzerland, the UAE, the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands and Belize.
Crown dependencies feature
The Channel Islands has 6 UK billionaires and 882 business owners living in or moving to their jurisdictions, compared to the Isle of Man with 3 billionaires and 668 business owners.
Dominic Wheatley, chief executive of Guernsey Finance, told International Adviser: “Guernsey is a sovereign jurisdiction and sets its own tax rates. Our tax regime is not designed to attract high net worth individuals – it is designed to raise the income the island requires to run year-on-year.”
Similarly, Gavin St Pier, Guernsey’s chief minister, said, in a letter to The Times: “It is the UK that remains the most attractive jurisdiction in the world for those resident but non-domiciled in the UK, and as a result the UK shelters billions of tax from the exchequers of other countries.
“The UK’s tax policies for non-domicileds make the country a more attractive tax residence for high-earning Guernsey domiciles than their own island.”
IA also reached out to Jersey Finance and the Isle of Man government, but they did not provide a comment in time for publication.
Who and where
Among those who have relocated to low-tax jurisdictions are:
Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay (worth £7.4bn) – owners of The Telegraph newspaper as well as several properties in London including the Ritz – have an 80-acre private island in the Channel Islands where they have spent £60m to build a castle and vineyard on the island.
Michael Platt (worth £3bn) – the UK’s wealthiest hedge fund boss – declared that he has lived in Jersey since 2014.
Glenn Cordon (worth £2.5bn) – owner of Scottish distillery Willian Grant and Sons – and his family moved to Jersey in 2011.
John Whittaker (worth £2.2bn) – chairman of property business Peel Group – lives in the Isle of Man and his company is also based in the island.
