According to reports, the government has floated a new “investor visa” in an attempt to stop the flight of millionaires from the UK, with plans in the early stages of development.
The visa would reward those who invest heavily into the UK – particularly in strategically important areas such as AI and clean energy – with a route into the country.
Commenting on these reports, Marc Acheson, Global Wealth Specialist at Utmost Wealth Solutions, said:
The most effective way to stem the flood of non-doms and high net worth individuals (HNWs) from the UK is to look at reversing the decision to scrap the non-dom regime and the removal of inheritance tax (IHT) protections on foreign assets, exposing global estates to a 40% UK IHT. Both these changes have led to a significant outflow of this community, with the latter move proving a major tipping point.
The replacement of the non-dom regime with the new four-year Foreign Income and Gains (FIG) regime fails to encourage or incentivise people to put down long-term roots in the UK and has left the country unable to compete with other jurisdictions that are aggressively courting these leavers. These changes have eroded much of the UK’s appeal to HNWs with more individuals planning to leave in the coming years, particularly those with children nearing the end of their education, and those leaving are not being replaced.
While an investor visa, in principle, sounds like a good idea, for it to be effective it must be supported by a globally competitive tax framework. Therefore, policy efforts would be better directed at retaining those already here, who contribute significantly to UK tax revenues.
