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Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal is preparing to leave the UK in response to a government crackdown on non-domiciled residents, making him one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs to move because of the tax reform.
The Indian businessman — who has lived in the UK for three decades — has told associates that his likely departure is in response to the Labour government’s decision to end the “non-dom” regime, which allowed certain UK residents to avoid paying British tax on foreign income and gains.
“He is exploring his options and will take a final decision over the course of this year,” said a friend of Mittal. “There is a good chance he will cease to be a UK tax resident.”
Mittal and his family were listed at number seven in the Sunday Times list of Britain’s wealthiest people last year, with a fortune estimated at £14.9bn.
He owns a vast chalet in the Swiss ski resort of St Moritz, as well as properties elsewhere in Europe, the US and Asia. He has also been buying up property in Dubai, according to people familiar with the situation.
A spokesperson for Mittal declined to comment.
Mittal built his eponymous conglomerate from virtually nothing into the world’s second-largest steel producer over the course of almost five decades. He moved his family to the UK in 1995.
Four years ago, Mittal — a significant donor to the Labour party under former prime minister Sir Tony Blair — stepped back as chief executive of ArcelorMittal, becoming executive chair of the group, which has a market capitalisation of €24bn.
He was replaced by his son Aditya Mittal. The family owns 40 per cent of the company.
The billionaire’s expected departure puts him in the growing ranks of wealthy foreigners leaving Britain in response to Labour’s fiscal crackdown.
They are relocating to tax-friendlier jurisdictions, with countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Italy and Switzerland among the main beneficiaries, according to multiple non-doms and their advisers.
Mittal owns several properties in the UK, including a mansion in Kensington Palace Gardens in London, which was the world’s most expensive home when he bought it from then-Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone for £67mn in 2004.
UK taxpayers who leave the country face constraints on how much time they can spend in Britain. They can usually visit for up to 90 days a year — as long as they work on no more than 30 of those.
Opponents of abolishing the non-dom regime argue that, rather than boosting the UK economy, the resulting exodus of high earners will harm the Britain’s growth prospects. They say that wealthy individuals and their staff boost the UK’s coffers through taxes on income and consumption and many of them are active philanthropists.
The 226-year-old non-dom regime allowed UK residents who declared their permanent home as being overseas to avoid paying British tax on their foreign income.
In March 2024, then Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt pre-empted one of the opposition Labour party’s flagship policies by announcing its abolition, ahead of the election later that year.
Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed the abolition in her October Budget and went further by ending the use of offshore trusts to avoid UK inheritance tax at 40 per cent.
Several non-doms and their advisers said that this change played a big part in their decision to leave.
Additional reporting by Chloe Cornish in Dubai and Robert Smith in London
