eprivateclient quotes Dominic Lawrance on rumours surrounding potential UK government plans to attract HNW investors

According to eprivateclient, ministers are reportedly discussing initiatives that would help attract wealthy investors to the UK.

The talks follow mounting evidence that recent tax reforms have accelerated the departure of internationally mobile wealth from the UK.

Dominic Lawrance, Partner in our Private Client team, comments for eprivateclient:

There have been rumours that ministers are looking at extending the four-year special tax regime which, under current law, is available to individuals moving to the UK who have been continuously non-UK resident for at least ten consecutive years. Separately, ministers are apparently in discussions with the pressure group Foreign Investors for Britain regarding a possible fifteen-year flat tax regime which, according to the proposals, would be tied to a form of investor visa. Under the Foreign Investors for Britain proposals, individuals using the scheme would need to invest £2.5m into UK qualifying investments. If so, they would gain access to a special tax arrangement under which £200,000 would be paid per annum for up to fifteen tax years. The special regime would provide protection from UK inheritance tax on non-UK assets, as well as shielding users of the regime from additional tax on foreign income and gains.

"There is no certainty that either of these potential developments will come to pass. But what is interesting is the fact that ministers have, it seems, now clocked that the April 2025 tax reforms, which abolished the remittance basis and involved related changes to the inheritance tax rules, were economically damaging. Tax advisers were trying to tell the government that for about a year before the reforms were implemented, and the current attention to this issue could be characterised as shutting the stable door well after all the horses have fled to Italy and Dubai. Nonetheless, there are some grounds for hope that the government is willing to learn from the mistakes that have undoubtedly been made.

Read the full piece in eprivateclient here.