Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty “has always and will continue to pay UK taxes on all her UK income”, her spokeswoman has said after a report that she had claimed non-domicile status.
The Independent said that Ms Murty had used the status to save on her tax bill as recently as April 2020, when her husband was already chancellor.
Indian-born Ms Murty is the daughter of Narayana Murthy, the billionaire co-founder of tech giant Infosys – and has a 0.9% stake in the company worth hundreds of millions of pounds according to its latest annual report.
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Her spokeswoman said: “Akshata Murty is a citizen of India, the country of her birth and parent’s home.
“India does not allow its citizens to hold the citizenship of another country simultaneously.
“So, according to British law, Ms Murty is treated as non-domiciled for UK tax purposes.
“She has always and will continue to pay UK taxes on all her UK income.”
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Sky News understands that the Treasury was already aware of Ms Murty’s tax status and that she pays foreign taxes on her foreign income.
Scrutiny of Ms Murty’s financial affairs have intensified since the invasion of Ukraine as Infosys initially continued to have a presence in Russia – before later announcing that, like other multinationals, it was pulling out.
Labour’s shadow economic secretary to the Treasury, Tulip Siddiq, said: “The chancellor has imposed tax hike after tax hike on the British people.
“It is staggering that – at the same time – his family may have been benefitting from tax reduction schemes.
“Rishi Sunak must now urgently explain how much he and his family have saved on their own tax bill at the same time he was putting taxes up for millions of working families.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has previously urged the chancellor to “come clean” over whether his household had benefited from any money from Russia, at a time when the UK has been applying sanctions pressure to the Kremlin.
Mr Sunak has bristled at the focus on his wife, telling the BBC last week that he found it “very upsetting” and comparing himself with actor Will Smith, who responded angrily when his wife was mocked during the Oscars ceremony.
Asked last month on Sky News whether his family was going against advice given to companies over connections with Russia, he said: “I’m an elected politician, and I’m here to talk to you about what I’m responsible for. My wife is not.”
He said he had “nothing to do with that company”.
The latest revelations come on the same day as a YouGov poll showing the chancellor’s popularity had plunged since his spring statement, taking his popularity below that of Sir Keir for the first time since he became leader.
Mr Sunak has been accused of not doing enough to tackle the cost of living crisis with energy and fuel prices soaring and the impact of the Ukraine war set to intensify the squeeze.
This week, Sky News revealed that the chancellor has donated more than £100,000 to his old boarding school Winchester College – one of the most expensive private schools in the country.
