Sajid Javid, a candidate in the Conservative Party leadership race, refused to say where he had an offshore trust.
Mr Javid retained the trust while he was an MP and PPS at the Treasury – an assistant 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 said in an interview with 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, today refused to say where his offshore trust is actually located.
He previously said he dissolved the trust when he became a government minister in 2012 and received 50 per cent income tax “on those assets” – “the heaviest possible tax burden”.
Mr Javid also said in April that he had always declared the information required by tax, government and parliamentary authorities.
The former chancellor revealed earlier this year that he used foreigner status until 2009. This is a perfectly legal mechanism that allows people to reduce their UK tax bill on their worldwide income.
He told the BBC he used non-domestic 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 Murthy, had used the same route to minimize her UK tax bill. Ms Murthy subsequently announced that she would pay UK tax on her worldwide income.
The Ministerial Code states that although PPS are not technically members of the government, “they must ensure that no conflict arises or appears to arise between their role as Parliamentary Private Secretary and their private interests”.
Mr Javid’s trust was not listed in his entry in the register of members’ interests in 2011, but he declared a shareholding in Deutsche Bank, his former employer.
In April, a spokesman for Mr Javid declined to say whether the assets in the trust – which Mr Javid said in a statement he dissolved in 2012 – included those Deutsche Bank shares, as well as other assets including stakes in various companies . They also declined to say whether that trust is being managed as a blind trust or under a blind management arrangement, or to say where it is located.
During his time as a banker, Mr Javid was linked to Dark Blue Investments, an employee benefit trust through which employees received share bonuses through special-purpose legal entities to avoid income tax. The Supreme Court ruled that tax must be paid on these bonuses.
Experts also questioned Mr Javid’s use of non-domestic 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 said he had been the target of a smear campaign.
He has vowed to release his tax returns if he wins the race and becomes prime minister, following revelations by The Independent 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 returns every year if he succeeds Boris Johnson in Number 10.
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