Wife of UK Minister Rishi Sunak Akshata Murty to pay extra tax on overseas income after objection
Sunak Akshata Murty’s wife is the daughter of Indian billionaire NR Narayana Murthy.
London:
Akshata Murty, the wife of British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, announced on Friday that she will start paying UK tax on “all income worldwide”, amid controversy over her status as a non-profit. her residence.
Sunak has accused critics of organizing a “smear” campaign against his wealthy Indian wife, whose substantial overseas income has been shielded from UK taxes. .
The Labor opposition has accused Sunak of “spectacular hypocrisy” after he raised taxes on ordinary Britons amid the cost of living crisis.
In a statement, Murty, the daughter of Indian billionaire NR Narayana Murthy, said she did not want her non-authoritarian status to become a “distraction” for her husband.
“This means I will now pay UK tax on an incidental basis on all my worldwide income, including dividends and capital gains, wherever in the world it arises. income”.
Murty insisted she was making the change “because I wanted to, not because the rules required me to”, adding that the new arrangements would start “immediately”.
The Guardian estimates that Murty has received £54.5 million ($71 million) in dividends from family company Infosys since 2015. Her status allows her to avoid paying £20 million in taxes to the company. British company, the newspaper said.
Earlier, her husband, the chancellor of the contest, told the edition of The Sun on Friday that “smearing my wife to get me is terrible”.
Sunak, once a leading candidate to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has seen his popularity plummet in recent weeks as consumer prices rise across the board.
‘She loves her country’
The Independent revealed that Sunak was among the beneficiaries of trusts in the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands, two tax havens.
This has sparked criticism from the opposition that the Conservatives are taking advantage of the system for their own convenience, bypassing the rules imposed on others.
Speaking ahead of his wife’s announcement, Sunak told The Sun “it would not be reasonable or fair to ask her to sever ties with her country because she happened to be married to me”.
“She loves her country. Just like I love my country,” he said, adding that “for every penny she earns in the UK, she pays UK taxes”.
A person’s place of residence is usually the country their father made his or her permanent home when he was born, although this can change if the person plans to live permanently in the UK.
Murty was entitled to claim legal status, but she ultimately stated that the UK – the country in which her husband holds the second most important political office – was not her permanent home country.
And contradicting Sunak, tax lawyers have noted that Murty can still pay UK tax on his global income without giving up his Indian citizenship.
Allies of the finance minister told the Daily Telegraph they believe Johnson’s office was behind the spoiling of the recent leaks.
They say the prime minister believes Sunak has not supported him strongly enough in an ongoing scandal with Downing Street lockdown parties.
Johnson denied reports of any briefings against Sunak, and told reporters his prime minister was doing an “absolutely outstanding job”.
“And I don’t think people’s families should be dragged into it,” he said.
A recent YouGov poll showed Sunak’s rating had dropped 24 percentage points in the past two weeks, following a budget report criticized for ignoring the plight of struggling Britons.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
