Sir Jim Ratcliffe: UK’s richest man and prominent Brexiteer ‘to leave for Monaco’ in tax plan According to reports he would legally share with his senior executives Andy Currie and John Reece, between £1bn and £10bn tax-free

Britain’s wealthiest man is allegedly planning to relocate his home and his money to Monaco in an attempt to reduce his tax bill by up to £4bn.

According to the Sunday Times, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is and a prominent Brexiteer, has been working with international accountancy firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) to help with the tax plan.

Sir Jim, who was knighted less than a year ago for services to business and investment, serves as chairman and chief executive officer of the Ineos chemicals group.

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According to reports he would legally share with his senior executives Andy Currie and John Reece, between £1bn and £10bn tax-free.

This plan, which was described by a source as “egregious”, would leave the Treasury short of between £400m and £4bn a year.

Tax avoidance

It is understood PwC has consulted its public interest body over whether it should refuse to help with the scheme or drop the Ineos account over potential damage to its reputation.

Ineos, which Sir Jim founded in 1998 and owns two-thirds of, has an estimated annual turnover of £45bn and employs more than 18,500 people across 181 sites in 22 countries.

In May 2018, Sir Jim was named as the UK’s richest person with a net worth of £21.05 billion.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable told the paper that the plan was “deeply cynical”, and added: “There are thousands of our constituents who are being bankrupted by HM Revenue & Customs action over small-scale tax avoidance while big fish like Ratcliffe are just treating taxation as purely voluntary.

“The idea that we should be dishing out knighthoods to people who have no commitment to this country is rather shameful.”

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, added: “The greed of these super-rich tax avoiders seems to have no bounds.

“Don’t they realise that every penny they hide away in their tax havens is a penny not spent on our NHS treating the sick, or social care looking after our lonely, isolated elderly, or the education of our children?”

UK’s richest person

A statement from Ineos said its 400 companies in 35 jurisdictions regularly paid dividends within the group and it had 10 major projects worth over £775m each.

The company added: “We have just announced a €3bn [£2.6bn] investment in Antwerp [in Belgium] and the $1.1bn purchase of Ashland composites [a maker of resins for boats] with more to come.

“Ineos and its owners always fully adhere to all tax legislation and consistently use external professionals to verify that all procedures are correct and compliant.”