City AM quotes Dominic Lawrance on the suitability of a non-dom tiered tax regime (TTR)

It has been reported that UK Treasury officials are examining several different options to get a handle on the level of high-net-worth departures from the UK, and reversing the inheritance tax grab would be the most radical.

According to official estimates from the Office for Budget Responsibility, doing so would cost the Exchequer just £450m in lost receipts. In return, the government would bring an end to what many tax lawyers and wealth advisers – including Dominic Lawrance, Private Client Partner – have held up as the main factor behind decisions to leave.

Reform recently set out a radical tax policy giving new or returning non-doms the chance to pay a £250,000 one-off fee to shield them from paying tax and encourage them to stay in the UK but the proposal has many critics.

According to Dom, an alternative would be a tiered tax regime (TTR). He shares his thoughts with City AM:

A tiered tax regime (TTR) would be the best option. An Italian lump sum regime would be a viable alternative, but the huge benefit of the TTR is that, although it would still be attractive to internationally mobile wealthy individuals, it would be progressive – those with broader shoulders would bear more fiscal weight. 

"The regime would in my view generate very meaningful annual revenue for the Exchequer, on a sustainable basis. (In contrast, the revenue generated by the April 2025 reforms will certainly be negative, at least once “windfall” revenues from the temporary repatriation facility have fallen away at the end of 2027/28).

"An exemption from IHT exposure on non-UK assets (for individuals using the TTR or lump sum regime) will be crucial, as so many internationally mobile individuals view the UK’s IHT rate as shocking, and see IHT exposure on foreign assets as a “red line”.

Read the full piece in City AM here.