UK Taxpayers Telling HMRC Of Departure Rise Almost 33 Per Cent

Tom Burroughes

29 September 2026

The number of taxpayers telling HM Revenue and Customs that they are leaving the UK rose 32 per cent to 69,000 in the 2025/26 tax year, according to HMRC figures released by , a UK national accountancy group.

The figure, up from 52,000 in 2024/25, counts P85 forms, which individuals file to notify HMRC that they are leaving the country. The true number of departures is likely to be higher, as many leavers do not file the form. The firm treats the data as a proxy for the overall trend.

UHY Hacker Young attributes the rise to tax increases since the July 2024 general election. These include higher capital gains tax, changes to inheritance tax, a rise in employer National Insurance Contributions, higher stamp duty on rental properties and VAT on private school fees.

The replacement of the non-dom regime has added to the pressure on internationally mobile individuals. (Before the 2024 general election, the preceding Conservative-led government also promised to end the non-dom system.) Under the new rules, favourable income tax and capital gains tax treatment for new arrivals lasts four years. Worldwide assets now come within the scope of UK inheritance tax after 10 years of residence, compared with 15 previously.

UHY Hacker Young said changes leave the UK less attractive than jurisdictions with more competitive regimes for incoming wealth, such as Italy and Switzerland.

Neela Chauhan, private client tax partner at UHY Hacker Young, said the trend was not confined to business owners, and extended to working people who did not regard themselves as wealthy. Inheritance tax is a particular factor. “One major draw for people is a less-harsh inheritance tax regime than we have in the
UK,” Chauhan said. “We’ve seen more people choose to move to Sweden, for example, where there is no inheritance tax at all.”

Further inheritance tax changes are in train. Reforms to business and agricultural property relief took effect in April 2026, and unused pension funds are due to fall within the scope of the tax from April 2027.

There are concerns that the UK has reached the upper limits of how high taxes, as a share of GDP, can go before they reduce, rather than raise, more money. The argument, sometimes known as “supply-side” economics, says that there is an optimum tax level between zero and 100 per cent, and that many major countries’ tax codes are beyond the ideal point.

At issue are arguments about fairness versus economic growth and efficiency. Two years ago, the Adam Smith Institute, a UK think tank, predicted large-scale capital flight as HNW individuals considered leaving the UK. Recent years have thrown attitudes towards HNW people in sharp, often uncomfortable, relief. (For a report about attitudes towards the rich, see this WealthBriefing review of a study of attitudes to the rich, by Rainer Zitelmann, a Germany-based sociologist and entrepreneur.)

The UK Autumn Budget is scheduled for 28 October.