Iwan and Manuela Wirth, owners of global art gallery Hauser & Wirth, have moved their permanent residence from the UK to Switzerland where the gallery’s holding company is located.
The relocation is as some of the high-profile figures involved in the art industry leave the UK after a tax reform to the country’s super-rich.
Wirth registered his relocation in business-related documents submitted to the company House this month. The documents are supervised by a government agency that tracks audits of British companies.
Gallery Financial TimesThis first reported the move, saying the owner is working on projects in Switzerland, the United States and the United Kingdom, and the relocation is due to personal reasons and has nothing to do with changes in tax laws.
Wirths, which runs a development and hospitality company called Artfarm, has not withdrawn from the UK investment. They plan to open a new London location in 2026, despite the region’s decline in recent years.
According to a recent audit, the gallery’s UK locations reported a turnover of £144 million, a 13% decrease from £166 million in 2022. After-tax profit increased slightly from £5.2 million to £6 million.
Their departure comes from reports of wealthy people retreating from the UK after the non-tax state ended, and the inheritance tax reforms led by Prime Minister Rachel Reeves, whose impact is still debated among financial advisers.
The London School of Economics’ 2024 study challenged the country’s massive “Fortune Exodus” claims. LSE’s research shows that reports of top business leaders and philanthropists leaving the UK about recent tax law changes have been exaggerated, with many viewing tax immigration as reputational damage.
