Mr Javid maintained the trust while he was an MP and PPS in the Treasury – a minister who acts as the chancellor’s eyes and ears in parliament. On Sunday, Mr Javid joined MP Nadhim Zahawi, another leadership contender and now chancellor, in saying he would agree to make his tax affairs public if elected leader. Mr Javid told BBC Sunday Morning when asked about releasing his tax returns: “I have no problem with that kind of transparency. I think if I get the last two, the last two candidates should be pretty open about their tax affairs.” But Mr Javid – who resigned as Health Secretary last week – refused today to say where his offshore trust was actually located. He previously said he broke up the trust when he became a government minister in 2012 and was slapped with 50 per cent income tax “on those assets” – the “heaviest possible tax burden”. Mr Javid also said in April that he always declared the information required by tax, government and parliamentary authorities. The former chancellor revealed earlier this year that he had used non-dom status until 2009. This is a completely legal mechanism that allows people to reduce their UK tax bill on their worldwide income. He told the BBC he had used non-dom status on his tax returns for about “four or five years” in the 2000s. Mr Javid issued a statement clarifying his tax affairs in April after The Independent revealed that Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty had used the same route to minimize her UK tax bill. Ms Murty then announced she would pay UK tax on her worldwide income. The ministerial code states that although PPSs are not technically members of the government they “must ensure that no conflict arises or appears to arise between their role as a parliamentary private secretary and their private interests”. Mr Javid’s trust was not listed on his 2011 register of members’ interests, but he declared a holding in Deutsche Bank, his former employer. In April, a spokesman for Mr Javid declined to say whether the assets of the trust – which Mr Javid said in a statement he dissolved in 2012 – included those Deutsche Bank shares as well as other assets, including shares in different companies. They also declined to say whether that trust operated as a blind trust or under a blind management arrangement, or to say where it was located. During his time as a banker, Mr Javid was linked to Dark Blue Investments, an employee benefit trust through which staff were paid share bonuses through specially created entities to avoid income tax. The high court ruled that tax had to be paid on these bonuses. Experts also raised questions about Mr Javid’s use of non-dom status, given that he was born in the UK and would therefore have to declare that he did not intend to live in the country long-term to use the mechanism. Tax transparency has become a flashpoint amid leadership campaigns after Mr Zahawi claimed it was the subject of a smear campaign. He has vowed to release his tax returns if he wins the race to become prime minister, after The Independent revealed that HMRC experts are investigating his financial affairs. The leadership candidate claimed he was the victim of a “smear” campaign – but promised to “answer any questions HMRC have about me” and publish his accounts annually if he succeeds Boris Johnson in No 10.
