Tax obligations of High Value Residents (FOI)

Request

In the past five years, how many high value residents (1(1)K's) have not paid their minimum tax?

Response

It is assumed the question refers to individuals who come to Jersey through obtaining “entitled status” under Regulation 2(1)(e) of the Control of Housing and Work (Residential and Employment Status) (Jersey) Regulations 2013, as well as those individuals that hold 1(1)(k) status under the old Housing Law.

The latest year of assessment for which the Taxes Office has complete data is the 2015 year of assessment. Therefore the five year period covered by this response is the 2011 to 2015 years of assessment (inclusive).

To aid analysis the data has been broken down between those High Value Residents (HVRs) who were within: (i) the current regime applicable since July 2011; and (ii) the 2005 to 2011 regime.

Consistent with the approach adopted in the “Post-Implementation Review of Jersey’s High Value Residents Regime Applicable since July 2011” published in December 2016 the data only includes those HVRs who were in Jersey for the complete year of assessment (ie it excludes those HVRs who arrive / leave or die part way through a year of assessment). The total number of this cohort is 75 for the 2015 year of assessment.

(i) Current regime applicable since July 2011:

In the years of assessment 2012 to 2015, there were fewer than five HVRs who paid less than their expected annual minimum income tax contribution in the 2015 year of assessment.

(ii) 2005 to 2011 regime:

In the years of assessment 2011 to 2015, there were 10 HVRs who paid less than their expected annual minimum income tax contribution in one or more of these years of assessment.

NOTE 1: Ordinarily the Comptroller of Taxes does not disaggregate or analyse data on groups consisting of fewer than 12 persons – to avoid inadvertent exposure of, or intrusion into, the affairs of individual taxpayers. Consistent with the approach taken in the Post-Implementation Review report highlighted above, following discussions with the Minister for Treasury and Resources it has been agreed that this policy will be relaxed in order to provide the information requested.

NOTE 2: The data above has been produced looking at each year of assessment separately. In some cases a HVR’s income tax contribution meets / exceeds their expected annual minimum income tax contribution when averaged over a number of years of assessment (eg they ‘underpay’ in one year and then correspondingly ‘overpay’ in another year to ensure that their average income tax contribution meets / exceeds the expected annual minimum income tax contribution). In light of the question asked, where this has occurred these HVRs have been included in the data as paying less than the expected annual minimum income tax contribution for the year of assessment in which they underpaid.

NOTE 3: For those HVRs granted entitled status under Regulation 2(1)(e) from 1 January 2018 onwards there will be a new tax regime which will ensure those HVRs meet their expected minimum income tax contribution in each applicable year of assessment.

Exemption applied

Article 25 Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.