Tax exiles under threat following Court ruling

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Thousands of tax exiles could face hefty bills after the Court of Appeal upheld the right of HM Revenue and Customs to retrogressively tax a businessman who has lived in the Seychelles since 1976.

The court ruled that despite abiding by the rules to spend less than 91 days per tax year in the UK, Robert Gaines-Cooper had not ‘cut his ties' with the country and was therefore still liable to pay tax. Gaines-Cooper may now have to pay a tax bill of £30m, for the years from 1993 to 2004. The crux of the Revenue's old guidance on whether someone was resident in the UK for tax purposes - known as IR20 - was whether they spent, on average, fewer than 91 days in the country each year. However, the Appeal Court judges ruled it had always been the case that any would-be tax exile firs...

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