Billionaire tech entrepreneur joins non-dom exodus
The billionaire founder of one of Britain’s top fintechs has quit the UK for Monaco, becoming the latest super-rich foreigner to flee the government’s crackdown on non-doms.
Guillaume Pousaz, who started payments firm Checkout.com in 2012, changed his country of residence to the France-adjacent tax haven in April, according to Companies House filings, to avoid the changes the Chancellor made to the non-dom regime.
The departure puts Pousaz, who is worth an estimated £6bn, joins the growing ranks of ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) leaving Britain in favour of more tax-friendly jurisdictions.
Last month, CityAM revealed that Richard Gnodde, Goldman Sachs’ most senior banker outside of the US, had relocated to Milan. Aston Villa co-owner Nassef Sariwis and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal have also both made preparations to leave the UK since Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced plans to abolish the non-dom status.
But Pousaz is the first public example of a major fintech entrepreneur leaving Britain in the face of the tax regime, and could spark fears the exodus is spreading to what is one of the UK’s most cherished industries.
Non-dom regime abolished in Budget
In her maiden Budget, Reeves pressed ahead with re-election plans to abolish the non-dom status, a 200-year-old tax regime that allowed wealthy foreigners to live in the UK and only pay tax on British-based income and assets.
Within the same fiscal crackdown, the Chancellor also tightened up rules on non-dom and former non-dom-owned foreign-held trusts, meaning they were now liable to UK taxes like inheritance tax.
Justifying the move, the Chancellor said that “people who make their money in Britain should pay their taxes in Britain. But it triggered a deluge of warnings from wealth advisors and tax lawyers, who argued the regime’s abolishment would force wealthy investors and entrepreneurs away from Britain to low-tax jurisdictions like Milan, the UAE and Monaco.
According to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) original estimates, the clampdown would have netted the Exchequer north of £10bn a year.
But since the fiscal watchdog’s predictions in October, the non-partisan Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has suggested that if just half the UK’s former non-doms leave as a result of the changes, the Treasury would face a £12.2bn fiscal hole.
Pousaz’s departure spells the end of the founder’s 12-year stint leading checkout.com from its London headquarters full-time. Since founding the firm in 2012, he has built the company into a fintech powerhouse worth $9.35bn.
But from the pandemic onwards the firm has struggled to stem growing losses, which in 2023 ballooned 73 per cent to £306m.
Pousaz’s family office and Checkout.com both declined to comment on the move, and whether it might have any ramifications for Checkout.com’s London headquarters.