British finance minister Rishi Sunak defended his wife over her UK tax status, saying that every penny owed in the country is paid, The Sun reported late on Thursday.
"Every single penny that she earns in the UK she pays UK taxes on, of course she does," The Sun cited Sunak as saying. "And every penny that she earns internationally, for example in India, she would pay the full taxes on that."
Sunak is married to Akshata Murthy, the daughter of Narayana Murthy, the billionaire co-founder of IT services company Infosys. She owns around 0.93 per cent of the firm.
Her spokeswoman confirmed late Wednesday — the day that social security contributions rose for UK workers and employers — that Murthy is treated as non-domiciled for UK tax purposes, meaning she would not pay taxes in Britain on dividends from the Indian business.
Sunak said in the interview that his wife was domiciled in India and had never based herself anywhere else offshore.
Rejecting claims of tax avoidance, Sunak said non-domiciled status had been tarnished by some British-born people who have attempted to use it to dodge tax.
Non-domiciled status exempts more than 75,000, mostly foreign nationals, in Britain from tax on overseas income and has been a target for tax campaigners as it overwhelmingly benefits the very rich.
Sunak, who has seen his personal poll ratings plunge, is facing challenges on many fronts, with public finances stretched thin and the tax burden due to reach its highest since the 1940s.