Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng insisted that Rishi Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murthy, were “incredibly transparent” about the deal, adding that people should “move on from this story”. But Kwarteng was unable to say whether Murthy paid foreign income tax in India, of which she is a citizen, or in another jurisdiction, such as the Cayman Islands. Murthy receives about £ 11.5 million in annual dividends from a stake in her family’s IT business empire: Infosys. Under UK tax law, her status as a non-resident means she would not have to pay dividend tax on foreign companies. Infosys is headquartered in Bengaluru, India and is listed on the stock exchanges of India and New York. Taxpayers in the United Kingdom pay a tax of 38.1% on dividend payments. A Murthy spokesman said he was being treated as a non-resident for UK tax purposes because he was an Indian national who did not allow its citizens to hold citizenship at the same time. They added: “It will always continue to pay taxes in the UK on all of its British income.” After Murthy lived in the UK for 15 years, her status as a homeless person would disappear, Kwarteng said. Mercy moved to the country in 2015, six years after his marriage to Sunak. The couple met while studying for a master’s degree in business administration at Stanford University in California. Kwarteng said Murthy was “very clear” about her being homeless. Speaking on BBC Radio 4 today, he said: “He is an Indian citizen. And so, as you say, he pays tax here on British income, but he pays tax abroad on income from abroad. “ But when asked where she paid taxes abroad – in India or elsewhere, such as the Cayman Islands – Kwarteng said: “I know nothing about her tax affairs. “All I know is that she was very clear about being an Indian citizen. As long as he stays here for 15 years, the non-residence status is abolished. So this will be done in a few years. Do not know when. “And she was very transparent about that. The chancellor was incredibly transparent in his declaration of interests when he became a minister. “The Ministry of Finance, the department in which it works, is aware of all these cases. And there is a measure of transparency and she was very honest about it. And I think for me, that’s good enough for me. And I think we have to move on from this story. “ Earlier, Kwarteng told Times Radio that the non-resident status had existed in the UK “for more than 200 years”. He said: “This is something that has been established; I think there are a lot of malicious attacks on someone who, after all, is an individual and not a politician.” Murthy had previously been accused of receiving “blood money” dividends from the continued operation of Infosys in Russia despite the invasion of Ukraine. Following growing pressure, the company announced last week that it was closing its Russia office “urgently”. Sunak, who has repeatedly called on British companies to leave Russia to “inflict maximum financial pain” on Putin’s regime, has so far refused to comment on his wife’s 0.93% stake in Infosys.
