Domicile of choice

Once again, the Special Commissioners have had to adjudicate upon a question of domicile. This time the question was whether the taxpayer, whose domicile of origin was in the UK, had succeeded in establishing a domicile of choice in Hong Kong: Surveyor v CIR Sp C339 (noted 2002 STI 1522).

The taxpayer had taken up employment in Hong Kong in 1986. In 1990 he married a UK national who was resident in Hong Kong, where his children were born. In 1991, he became a partner in a Hong Kong firm. When offered the chance to return to the UK or remain in Hong Kong he chose to remain, applying for and being granted permission to remain permanently in Hong Kong when the handover to China took place. In 1997 he purchased a 30 year lease on a plot of land in Thailand where he and his wife intended to build a holiday home. In 2001 he was posted by his firm to Singapore for two years. The question of domicile arose because he made a discretionary settlement in Jersey in 1999 and it was necessary to establish whether this was a chargeable transfer for IHT purposes.