The boss of Revolut has joined Britain’s billionaire exodus by changing his residency from the UK to the United Arab Emirates.
Nikolay Storonsky, who co-founded the fintech before growing it into the country’s biggest start-up worth £56bn, revealed the move in a filing for his family office.
The chief executive could be in line for a £30billion windfall under an Elon Musk-style payday if he drives Revolut’s value over £110billion, it recently emerged.
His departure is embarrassing for Rachel Reeves, who just two weeks ago hailed the opening of the Revolut’s new London headquarters as proof Britain is ‘open for business’.
The Chancellor has been blamed for driving away wealthy entrepreneurs through her tax raids, including abolishing non-dom status and imposing a 40 per cent inheritance tax charge on the global assets of foreigners after 10 years of living in the UK.
The UAE is known for its tax-friendly regime and does not tax income, with British expats flocking in large numbers to Dubai, its largest city.
At summit in the city last year, Mr Storonsky praised Dubai’s ‘advanced infrastructure and investor-friendly policies’, according to a government press release.
Mr Storonsky, 41, was born in Russia before moving to London, where he founded Revolut in 2015.
He renounced his Russian citizenship after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is now a British citizen. Companies House filings reveal he gave his tax residency as England until October 16, 2024.
His decision to relocate comes at a critical time for Revolut, which is preparing for a potential stock market listing. Last month, it outlined plans to invest £3billion in the UK and create 1,000 jobs as it continues its bid to win a British banking licence.
Rachel Reeves with Nikolay Storonsky at the opening of Revolut’s new London HQ last month, which she hailed as a ‘vote of confidence’ in the UK
A Companies House filing from Storonsky Family Ltd, his family office, listed the UAE as his ‘new country or state usually resident’. The filing said he had moved there last year.
While neither Revolut nor Mr Storonsky has commented publicly on the development, a person familiar with the situation said he retains a home in the UK and will be here frequently for work.
Revolut had previously denied reports Mr Storonsky had moved to Dubai, saying: ‘Nik is based in and registered to Revolut’s UK entity.’
He is only the latest of a string of billionaires to leave Britain in the wake of Labour’s tax raids.
They include Nassef Sawiris, the Egyptian co-owner of Aston Villa FC, who has shifted his tax residency to Italy – according to legal documents revealed in April.
Brothers Ian and Richard Livingstone, who oversee a £9billion property empire in the UK and abroad, an online casino and plush Monte Carlo hotel, have quit Britain for Monaco.
Another billionaire developer, Malawi-born Asif Aziz – owner of the former London Trocadero on Piccadilly Circus – moved his tax residency to Abu Dhabi at the end of last year.
David Lesperance, the founder of tax and immigration advisory Lesperance and Partners, told the Mail in July that 50 per cent of his ‘ultra-high net worth’ clients had already departed the UK since Labour came to power and predicted half that number again would flee the imposition of a wealth tax.
Several billionaires have been open about their reasons for leaving, with Nassef Sawiris blaming Labour’s inheritance tax clampdown and a ‘decade of incompetence’ under the Tories.
Britain’s ninth richest billionaire, John Fredriksen, declared in the summer that Britain had ‘gone to hell’ and ‘become like Norway’.
The Norwegian had previously run his private firm, Seatankers Management, from an office in Sloane Square.
But he told newspaper E24 that the UK had become a worse place to do business.
Brothers Ian and Richard Livingstone, who oversee a £9billion property empire in the UK and abroad, an online casino and plush Monte Carlo hotel, have quit Britain for Monaco
‘It’s starting to remind me more and more of Norway,’ he said. ‘Britain has gone to hell, like Norway.
‘People should get up and work even more, and go to the office instead of having a home office.’
In May, The Sunday Times Rich List estimated that the UK had 156 billionaires, down from 165 the year before and the largest annual drop since the list began in 1989.
Putting an exact figure on the number of billionaires leaving the country is complicated by the difficulty of calculating an individuals’ wealth and working out their tax residency if they do not make this information public.
Labour donor Laskhmi Mittal was reported in March as telling friends that he would probably leave the UK.
The Indian-born businessman is also the owner of property on London’s exclusive Kensington Palace Gardens, which has been dubbed ‘billionaire’s row’.
He bought what was then the world’s most expensive home for £67million in 2004.
Official figures suggested the number of non-dom taxpayers in the UK dipped last year prior to the Government clamping down on the tax status.
There were about 73,700 people claiming non-domiciled tax status in the year ending in April last year, according to estimates from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
This was 400 fewer than the 2022-23 tax year, or a dip of about 0.5 per cent.
The number of non-doms, according to self-assessment tax returns, stood 3,900 below that in the tax year ending 2020.
It indicates a slowdown in the number of people claiming the tax status following a post-pandemic resurgence.
Non-domiciled means UK residents whose permanent home, or their ‘domicile’ for tax purposes, is outside the UK.
The regime meant that so-called non-doms paid tax in the UK only on income generated in the UK – meaning any income earned overseas was exempt from British taxation.
Nassef Sawiris, the Egyptian co-owner of Aston Villa FC, shifted his tax residency to Italy – according to legal documents revealed in April
However, the Labour Government abolished the non-dom tax status in April following backlash that wealthy residents could enjoy the benefits of living in the UK without paying as much tax.
Previous chancellor Jeremy Hunt estimated that scrapping the regime would raise about £2.7billion for the Treasury by 2028-29.
HMRC’s data published on Thursday showed that some £9billion was raised from non-doms paying income tax, capital gains tax and national insurance last year.
This was a £107million increase on the prior year, despite the dip in the number of individuals.
Even so, campaigners insist HRMC will suffer in the long-term if some of Britain’s biggest taxpayers are driven out.
Leslie MacLeod-Miller runs Foreign Investors for Britain (FIFB), a lobby group set up after the July general election.
He told the Mail: ‘Wealth is already shifting to countries like Italy, Dubai, and Switzerland.
‘The government needs to show bold leadership and implement a bold policy change before Britain’s ‘golden geese’ take their ‘golden eggs’ abroad to other countries that are actively courting them.
‘The Office for Budget Responsibility warned this July that continued reliance on this small population of top taxpayers represents a growing fiscal risk.
‘The government needs to act now, talk of a wealth tax will only increase the exodus of this high income – and high investing, employing and growth-creating group. Fiscal sense rather than ideology needs to prevail.’
