The owner of a £6m castle in Kent has revealed that plans for a credit fintech, which would have employed numerous UK workers, were scrapped due to the changes in non-dom status introduced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, whom she dubbed “Reckless Reeves”.
Ann Kaplan Mulholland, a reality TV personality and entrepreneur, has held non-dom status with her cosmetic surgeon husband for three years, as reported by City AM.
However, the couple has opted to relocate to Milan in response to the government’s October Budget decision to abolish the advantageous tax regime.
“We can’t stay we have too many businesses worldwide, and there’s no way we’re paying inheritance tax or having our kids taxed – that’s a lot of money,” Kaplan Mulholland stated in an interview with City AM, “So we’re moving to Italy.”
Her departure signifies another high-profile exit as Kaplan Mulholland, known for her role in Real Housewives of Toronto and as the founder of IFinance, joins the exodus of wealthy individuals from the UK.
Data from analytics firm New World Wealth indicates that last year saw 10,800 individuals with over $1m in liquid assets leave the UK, marking a record high and a staggering 157 per cent increase from the number of affluent departures in 2023.
Kaplan Mulholland, along with her husband Stephen Mulholland, creator of Morpheus 8, plan to make their move to the northern Italian city before April 2026.
Despite not harbouring an affinity for their city of choice, Kaplan Mulholland and her spouse were persuaded to relocate by Italy’s flat tax residence scheme, specifically designed for affluent expatriates, which stipulates a €200,000 annual fee to exclude their foreign assets and income from the Italian tax system.
Speaking with City AM, the ‘Real Housewife’ who has now embraced non-domiciled status confirmed that despite their imminent departure, she and her husband would preserve their ownership of Lympne Castle in Kent.
The couple acquired the Grade I-listed fortified manor house for £6m in 2023 and have since reportedly invested another £25m into it. “I’m not going to stop running the [castle] business,” she declared during the interview.
“I’ve got 100 employees and I’m not going to take these jobs away from people.”
She continued, asserting her commitment to the local community: “If I was a jerk, I would. I’d just go, ‘Forget it. I’m selling the castle and I’m off.’ But there are people that believed in me, that came on board and I know I’m helping the community by investing in a business there.”
Kaplan Mulholland, who established iFinance in 1996 and turned it into a major Canadian consumer finance company, also disclosed to City AM her thwarted intentions to initiate a UK fintech firm, anticipating it would have provided employment and generated wealth within the country had the non-dom reforms not influenced her decision to leave.
In a recent interview, Kaplan Mulholland shared her insights on the financial services sector, expressing regret for not having established a unique business during her time in the UK. “If I’d been here longer, I would have set up a company that does pre-approval approvals for loans,” she said.
‘There’s no end to what we spend’Kaplan Mulholland also used the interview to corroborate fears within London’s luxury sector about the effect ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) departing the UK will have on high-end restaurants, designer labels, and the people they employ.
“When I speak to the different boutique stores at Harrods, they’re really concerned about the exodus of people that are funding the restaurants,” she said.
She listed luxury items like Louis Vuitton handbags and some of London’s storied restaurants and added, “There’s no end to what we spend.”
Instead of scrapping the non-dom regime, the entrepreneur-cum-reality star, who has filmed another as yet unreleased TV series documenting the restoration of Lympne Castle, believes the UK should adopt a non-dom regime similar to the one in place in Italy.
She said: “If Reckless Reeves takes a leaf out of that book and says, ‘OK, non-doms get to choose whether they want the current forms [which attract people coming over for shorter term high-paid jobs], or, if like us you’re coming in on a wealth investment status, you pay a £200,000-a-year fee.”
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