A tax expert said North Sea workers are unlikely to be affected to changes implemented to “non-dom” statuses in the UK.
The Chancellor George Osborne has revealed the first Conservative budget in almost two decades to MPs with a pledge to press ahead with tax reforms for the industry.
He told politicians non-dom status would be abolished for people born in the UK to parents domiciled here.
It means permanent non-dom status will be abolished with anyone resident in the UK for more than 15 years of the past 20 years expected to pay full UK tax from April 2017.
The move has been predicted to raise an estimated £1.5billion.
But Johnston Carmichael tax director Richard Britten said the “temporary nature” of work in the North Sea oil and gas industry meant any changes to non-dom status was unlikely to affect them.
He said: “I would imagine a lot of people would have been watching those announcements with a lot of interest – particularly people working in the North Sea- who can come from many other
parts of the world and working internationally.
“The nature of the industry is such that people come from across the world.
“The reality for non-doms, these are really looking at people who have become resident here for an extended period of time and it’s something that successive governments have sought to address, historically as one of those areas where there is significant tax leakage.
“So will it affect the typical oil and gas workers – I think not.
“Typically because of the temporary nature in which these workers are present here in the North East.”
Recommended for you
