A Bloomberg analysis of five million company filings shows a big jump in departing business leaders over recent months, with more than 4,400 disclosing an overseas move in the last year.
The data, which was published on Thursday (12 June), comes amidst a wave of recent studies which warn the UK will lose thousands of jobs and as much as £12.2 billion over the coming four years if non-doms leave at the pace that many advisers are predicting.
Non-doms or non-domiciled, is a person who lives in a country but is not legally domiciled in it, in some cases obtaining tax advantages in the country of residence.
April exits were up 75% from 12 months earlier and the highest in four years, with the pace even higher in the finance, insurance and real estate businesses popular with non-doms, according to the analysis of company filings.
More than a dozen lawyers and other advisers to the ultra-rich who spoke with Bloomberg said anywhere from 15% to two-thirds of their non-dom clients are out or are making plans to depart the UK.
This jump in departures has set the stage for the biggest exodus of wealth in the UK’s recent history as a nation that once prided itself on being a hub for the global elite risks a potentially serious, and unforced, economic own goal, Bloomberg’s economists said.
“The government bets the changes for non-doms will bring about £33 billion in extra taxes, but dissenting voices are giving far harsher predictions on the hit to jobs and economic growth.
“For now, much of the debate hinges on a key point: If more than one in four of the typical non-dom population exits, the policy will start to backfire, costing Keir Starmer’s Labour government money and creating further economic pressure.”
Contrasting reports
Bloomberg’s analysis comes after a Tax Justice Network report this week found that a millionaire exodus widely reported by news outlets around the world in 2024, and credited for the UK Labour government’s decision to weaken tax reforms, did not occur.
The Tax Justice Network is a British advocacy group consisting of a coalition of researchers and activists with a shared concern about tax avoidance, tax competition, and tax havens.
While Bloomberg’s data is based on recent company filings and conversations with wealth management experts, the Tax Justice Network’s report does show that there have been lingering fears around a wealth flight from the country for several years due to Labour’s tax policies.
“Media reporting widely blamed the alleged millionaire exodus on tax policies in the same year that calls for a wealth tax on the superrich gained unprecedented momentum globally. The media reporting was equivalent to 30 news pieces a day on the non-existent millionaire exodus across 2024,” the group said.
“Reviewing the full period from 2013 to 2024 for which the Henley report presents estimates on millionaire migration, the Tax Justice Network finds that millionaire migration rates consistently stood at near-0% for every year. Academic studies consistently show that the tax responses of the wealthy involve minimal levels of migration.”
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