Sunak tax return reveals PM’s £1.8m earnings from US

Rishi Sunak earned nearly £1.8m last year from his investments in a US-based investment fund, his official tax return shows.

The Prime Minister’s total earnings amounted to £2.23m, landing him with a tax bill of more than £500,000.

Overall, Mr Sunak paid an overall tax rate of 23 per cent as a result of the vast majority of his earnings coming from capital gains.

His earnings increased by around 13 per cent on last year, with all of his investment and capital gains income coming from a US-based investment fund listed as a blind trust, according to the summary.

He also earned £139,477 from his ministerial and prime ministerial salaries, a sum that pales in comparison with his investment income.

Rather than a full tax return, No 10 published “a summary” of Mr Sunak’s UK taxable income, capital gains and tax paid over the last tax year as reported to HM Revenue & Customs, prepared by accountancy service Evelyn Partners.

Mr Sunak, a former California resident, separately paid $6,847 US dollars in tax from $45,646 US dollars of dividends that were taxed separately in the US in 2022.

The details will do little to shake the notion that the Prime Minister is “rich”, leading to accusations he is “out of touch” with the British people.

It follows similar claims earlier this week after he shook on a bet for £1,000 that he would succeed in deporting migrants to Rwanda before an election.

His own earnings are dwarfed by his wife’s Akshata Murty, who is the heiress to Indian billionaire and founder of IT giant Infosys Narayana Murthy.

According to the Sunday Times Rich List, both Ms Murty and Mr Sunak are worth an estimated £520m, making them the wealthiest inhabitants of Downing Street in history.

Ms Murty was forced to wind down her own investment fund Catamaran Ventures, severing ties with several investments she held amid concerns over conflict of interest.

As revealed by i, she held an investment in a childminding company, Koru Kids, that stood to benefit directly from last year’s Budget.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt also published a summary of his tax return that showed he made a total of £416,605 last year, including £27,370 in rental income. He paid £117,418 in income tax and capital gains tax in the UK.