Akshata Murty to voluntarily pay taxes in UK on overseas income

Murty is the wife of UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and daughter of Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy.

The development follows criticism that Murty was not paying taxes in the country on dividends received from her less than 1% shareholding in the Bengaluru-based IT services provider.

This tax arrangement is considered legal as Murty is a non-domiciled person, or a non-resident in the UK, as she has not given up her Indian citizenship.

“I understand and appreciate the British sense of fairness and I do not wish my tax status to be a distraction for my husband or to affect my family. For this reason, I will no longer be claiming the remittance basis for tax,” Murty said on microblogging platform Twitter.

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Her series of tweets were later retweeted by Sunak.

“This means, I will now pay UK tax on an arising basis on all my worldwide income, including dividends and capital gains, wherever in the world that income arises. I do this because I want to, not because the rules require me to,” Murty added.

The new arrangement will begin immediately and will also apply to the 2021-22 tax year that ended March 31.

Ever since Sunak was elected to the UK parliament in 2015, he had not involved himself in business affairs, Murty said, adding that she had also not involved herself in politics.

“He’s never asked me to abandon my Indian citizenship, ties to India or my business affairs, despite the ways in which such a move would have simplified things for him politically,” she said.

Murty described her long-standing shareholding in Infosys as not just a “financial investment” but also a testament to her father’s work that she is proud of.

Murty owns a 0.93% stake in Infosys.

According to a report in the Guardian, Murty is estimated to have saved up to £20 million in taxes that would have been due on £54 million of dividends earned over her past seven-year stay in the UK.

Infosys reportedly closed its local office in Russia last month after Sunak drew flak for Murty allegedly benefitting from money made in the country while the UK government had imposed sanctions on UK businesses.