§ Mrs. Kellett-Bowmanasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will make a statement about the implications for taxation purposes of the law of domicile in relation to women born abroad and married to British husbands.
§ Mr. Peter ReesThe Domicile and Matrimonial Proceedings Act 1973 provided that from 1 January 1974 the domicile of a woman on her marriage should not necessarily become that of her husband but rather that it should be determined in the same manner as that of other individuals. It follows that in those cases where an individual domicile may affect tax liabilities, the treatment of a married woman may be affected by the date of her marriage.
The Government are sympathetic to the proposition that women born abroad who married before 1 January 1974 should be treated for tax purposes on an equal footing with those married subsequently: they would be prepared to consider making a change to this effect if there were a general consensus that those concerned wished them to do so. In this connection it is relevant that, whereas for income tax and capital gains tax purposes the liability of a person not domiciled in the United Kingdom will generally not exceed the liability of a person domiciled here, for the purposes of capital transfer tax the balance of advantage will vary from case to case. If any change were made, it would have to be on the basis that once the domicile of an individual had been established, it would apply equally for all those tax purposes for which it was relevant.