General principles of tax avoidance

Since the turn of this century, successive governments have been seeking to clamp down on perceived tax avoidance by wealthy individuals by way of stricter anti-avoidance rules with wider scope as to what constitutes tax avoidance, increased powers for HMRC and harsher penalties.

Historically, offshore arrangements have been widely used by UK resident and domiciled individuals as well as UK resident non-domiciliaries to avoid UK taxation. The government's stance on offshore tax planning has hardened significantly over the years and to limit the scope for tax planning a series of anti-avoidance measures have been introduced. Initially, such measures were mainly aimed at UK-domiciled individuals, but since 2008, non-domiciliaries have increasingly been targeted by measures sought to restrict the benefits achieved through the remittance basis of taxation. With effect from 6 April 2025, it is an individual’s long-term residence status in the UK, rather than their domicile, which is relevant in their liability to tax and the application of anti-avoidance measures, although there are transitional measures. For more information, see Practice Note: Fast find content on the changes to the taxation of non-domiciled individuals...