As the Chancellor dithers about how he will treat non-domiciled investors, signs are that businesses are already pulling their interests out of the UK and relocating to countries which are actively attracting investment.
Shire Pharmaceuticals is the latest casualty, relocating their headquarters to Ireland. Ireland does not tax repatriated interest or dividends and high earners can mitigate taxes easily before entering the Country. Dublin has gone from Zero to Hero to become the 3rd largest financial centre in Europe.
And it’s not just non-doms who are leaving, nor is it just Ireland they are going to. The businesses which serve them are leaving as well.
International Tax Planning Firm The SCF Group is the first company in the financial services sector to announce that it is relocating out of the UK. SCF has chosen Cyprus as its new base, a country which has a favourable tax treaty with the UK, leaving only a representative office in South London.
“London is the wealthiest financial centre in the world because non-doms achieved something by luck rather than policy. The UK government needs more businessmen and less lawyers in order to identify and create the right economic climate to encourage growth rather than penalise it, otherwise London could lose its world financial status altogether. SCF has exactly the specialist skills that London cannot afford to lose and I can see myself having to move to Dublin within the next five years,” says Barry Spencer-Higgins, CEO, SCF and Barrister at law.