Do You Have to Leave UK to Avoid British Taxation

According to The Sunday Times newspaper, David Landau, former owner of the Loot newspaper and current arts patron who has donated millions of pounds of his wealth to causes in the UK, is the latest victim of Brown’s taxation assault and is packing his bags and leaving his life in the UK behind.

Whilst you may never have heard of this man or be at all interested in the arts for example, you may like to learn that Landau’s a foreign national, resident in the UK who has paid taxes on his British generated wealth in the UK and as stated, has donated a lot of his wealth to British causes.  However, he is so unhappy at the way the UK has introduced a non-dom levy and is now poised to hike income tax even higher, he’s leaving.

Landau has quit his charitable roles and is leaving the UK – proving once again that the idea to tax us all harder and harder is a bad one and that it does have a negative effect on the nation.  But do you actually have to leave the UK to avoid British taxation?

The answer is a resounding NO actually – because there are a number of ways you can legitimately reduce your onshore tax bill if you don’t want to expatriate, and for someone with just over a million pounds in the bank to invest, there’s a way to buy a tax haven right here in Britain if you want to remain onshore but enjoy all the tax-free trappings that go with an entirely offshore existence.

For those of us with less than a cool million to hand and ready to invest there are ways to legitimately enhance your tax status in the UK.  For example, make use of your current ISA allowance and note that if you’re already over 50, your allowance has been extended by £3,000.  Think about tax-free savings offerings from the likes of National Savings, and if you’re going to be making any large purchases, do so now before the VAT is hiked back up from 15 to 17.5%.

If you’re a high earner in a family or small business and you enjoy dividend payouts, bringing forward your dividends now could mean you ‘only’ pay 25% tax effectively rather than the 36.1% that will be levied against higher rate tax payers in your position from next year.  If you’re not a company owner but you are a high earner, look into the tax effectiveness of instead structuring your business and income affairs through a company – because you may well be able to offset some of the worst effects of the government’s soon to be introduced 50% tax.

And finally, if you are a high earner, you have saved yourself at least a cool million and you want to buy a tax haven – consider buying Swinford Tollbridge – a unique tax haven in Oxfordshire spanning the River Thames!  Due to it having its own act of parliament dating back to 1767, the bridge is protected from having any other crossings built in its vicinity.  What’s more, under the ruling of King George III, the income earned by the owner of the bridge from the tolls they collect is 100% free from taxation!  Currently tolls are charged at a rate of between 5 and 50p and there are up to 4 million crossings made by motorists annually!  This means that when the bridge comes up for auction next month with a guide price in the region of at least a million pounds, whoever buys the asset can enjoy an annual income from it of up to £200,000 100% tax-free!

The fascinating thing about this bridge is that it is also exempt as an asset from stamp duty, capital gains and inheritance taxation!  What a quirk of fortune for anyone who has the money to invest in this asset – a real find!  Alternatively, for the rest of us, if we want to become 100% free of British taxation, the only real way is to go offshore.  Remaining onshore and resident in the UK there are ways you can offset, reduce, enhance and improve your tax status and tax bill – but only by expatriating and leaving the UK behind – as David Landau is now doing – can one completely escape the fetters of British taxation.