Report Reveals Queen Made Secret Investment Tax Deal

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

16 October 2001

It was reported in the British media over the weekend that on her accession to the throne in 1952, the Queen's advisors secured a secret tax deal to allow tax paid on dividends and interest from her investments to be reclaimed.

Analysts at Barclays Capital have calculated that a stock market investment of £2 million made in 1952 would now be worth £1.4 billion if all dividends had been reinvested, but only £300 million if full tax had been paid.

According to the Mail on Sunday report, which puts the Queen's personal wealth at around £1.15 billion, Parliament was never informed of the arrangement, which was only discovered in 1995 - two years after the monarch began to pay income tax for the first time.

A palace spokesman refused to comment on the royal family's private wealth, but observed that: 'Any report needs to be balanced by the recognition that we are more open than ever before about the expenditure of the royal family, which has reduced its income from the state from £83 million to £35 million over the last 10 years.'

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