When the Sunday Times broke the news that David Reuben, one of the richest men in the UK, had apparently fled to the tax haven of Monaco, there was much pearl clutching. Reuben had moved from his Holland Park house in London to live full-time in the principality.
Labour’s tax regime was blamed and there were said to be fears there would be a cascading effect across the economy, with wealth draining from the UK. It was reported that he had probably left because of potential taxes on wealth in the upcoming budget.
However, research by TaxWatch has found that Reuben, 88, has been a tax resident in Monaco since at least 2014.
A spokesperson for the Newcastle United shareholder, who with his brother Simon, 85, shares a combined estimated wealth of almost £28bn, confirmed this was the case.
Simon Reuben has lived in Monaco for 40 years since moving on health grounds while having cancer.
The principality is a popular place for those who do not wish to pay UK taxes as it does not impose income tax, capital gains tax or inheritance tax.
In July 2019, when David became a director of the Reuben foundation, the paperwork filed at the UK company registry stated he was “usually resident” in Monaco.
In 2024 he provided a signed declaration to a Los Angeles court stating: “I reside in Monaco. I have resided there for approximately 10 years.”
It was reported that the Reuben brothers were “non-doms”, which allowed them to pay UK tax only on income generated in the UK. The then chancellor Rachel Reeves axed this system in April last year, prompting a reported exodus of foreign super-rich individuals.
Asked whether Reuben would have been caught by changes to these rules if he had not decided to move out of his UK residence, a spokesperson said: “That’s an entirely hypothetical question to which it would be impossible to give an answer.”
Mike Lewis, the director of TaxWatch, told the Guardian: “When we started looking into this, we were surprised that publicly available documents completely contradicted a major news story. Sadly, these kinds of stories dominate the UK’s public and political conversation about our tax system.
“The autumn budget may see some of the biggest changes in years to how gains from wealth are taxed. Perhaps it’s time that our politicians, and our media, debate these changes based on public facts and verifiable numbers – not anecdotes and anonymous reports from billionaires and their spokespeople.”
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The Labour MP Clive Lewis, who campaigns for a wealth tax, said: “If you want to live in this country, being British, having access to the culture of London, people want that, and there are lots of billionaires and millionaires who do stay because of that.
“It’s instructive that there is a grouping of commentators who put on the scare tactics to say the wealthy are leaving this country. We can see that many of these billionaires don’t reside here anyway, many of them do stay here, and those who want to go, we can’t stop them anyway. This has always been the case.”
Some of the super-rich are leaving. Analysis of Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index has found that super-rich UK residents worth a combined £121bn have either left or loosened ties with the UK since the Labour government came to power in 2024. This represents more than half of all billionaire wealth.
Among those who have left are the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, the Aston Villa co-owner Nassef Sawiris and the shipping magnate John Fredriksen.
Inheritance tax changes in Reeves’s budget were also blamed for pushing the wealthy out, and it is thought capital gains tax may be increased this autumn.
The Reuben brothers were born in Mumbai, moved to London in their teens, and went to a state school in Islington, leaving education aged 17 with no A-levels. They started businesses in metal trading and carpet importing. Since then, they have built a property empire.
They own prestigious locations including Mayfair’s chandelier-festooned Burlington Arcade, Admiralty Arch, which is being developed into a five-star hotel, and Millbank Tower in Westminster.
