How much UK Tax did Rishi Sunak Pay?

Following months of political pressure, Rishi Sunak has published details of his UK tax affairs.

The records show he paid more than £1 million in UK tax over the previous three financial years.

Mr Sunak first said he would publish a tax return during his unsuccessful campaign to be Conservative Party leader in 2022.

It was later revealed that his wife Akshata Murthy had claimed non-dom status, allowing her to avoid UK tax on her vast foreign income, derived from her father’s Indian firm, Infosys.

Following a significant backlash, Ms Murthy then renounced her non-dom status and said she would pay UK tax on all her worldwide wealth to stop the issue from acting as a “distraction for her husband”.

There was also controversy over Nadhim Zahawi, who was sacked as Tory Party chairman in January 2023 after he failed to disclose millions of pounds in tax.

An ethics inquiry ordered by Mr Sunak found Mr Zahawi guilty of a “serious breach” of the ministerial code.

Mr Sunak’s tax release comes as MPs question Boris Johnson over whether he misled MPs on Partygate.

Rishi Sunak is believed to be one of the richest MPs in Parliament and his personal wealth is something opposition parties have often used as a political attack line.

The tax records show that he earned a total of £4.7 million over the previous three financial years, taking income and capital gains into account.

In the 2021-22 financial year, the Prime Minister earned more than £1.9 million in income and capital gains. He paid £432,493 in tax.

Following the publication of Mr Sunak’s tax details, Dan Neidle, the founder of Tax Policy Associates, tweeted that the Prime Minister’s submission was “not a tax return”.

Earlier in March 2023, during a trip to Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, Mr Sunak said he had been too “busy” to publish it sooner.

But in Parliament, Labour backbench MP Richard Burgon questioned why the PM had taken so long to publish tax returns.

He said: “People want transparency in our politics, especially because the prime minister is the richest prime minister in history and because of the concerns there have been.”

In his first speech as PM outside Downing Street, Mr Sunak promised to lead a government of “integrity, professionalism, and accountability at every level”.

Although there is not a long tradition of prime ministers publishing their tax returns, some of Mr Sunak’s predecessors have chosen to do so in recent years.

Former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron published his tax return in 2016 after revelations about his late father’s offshore fund were revealed in the Panama Papers.