- Jo Konta will not be another British athlete moving abroad for tax reasons
- The British no 1 outlined how she is personally against the whole concept
- Andy Murray has voiced similar opinions on the matter in the past
Jo Konta has pledged that she will be with Andy Murray in declining to join the ranks of British sporting tax exiles, despite another season having finished inside the world’s top ten.
The British No 1, who has made the shortlist for this weekend’s Sports Personality of the Year, has recently hired Florida-based coach American coach Michael Joyce, but she will not be moving there either for training or financial reasons.
Konta has no intention of giving up her home in London, although she has earned more than £2 million in prize money alone this year.
Jo Konta has pledged that she will not be joining the ranks of British sporting tax exiles
Murray has always remained resident in Surrey, but British men’s number two Kyle Edmund has recently taken the step of officially domiciling himself in the Bahamas.
‘For me personally I’m against it. It’s not something that would work for me,’ Konta said on Tuesday of a potential move abroad. ‘ This is my home and I know if you move your residency outside of here, you can only spend a certain amount of time in the country.
‘ I don’t want to be restricted with how much time I get to spend at home. I’m not going to put myself in that position so I’ll happily pay my taxes and spend my time at home.
‘ I still live here, my training base is mainly in the UK, however I am open to training in the places where my coaches are from. I understand that they are human beings as well. They have families and need time home as well.
Andy Murray has voiced similar opinions on the subject in the past
‘I’ve been rooted in the UK since I was 14 years old. That’s quite a bit of time actually. It’s fast approaching half my life now.’
At present Konta plans to travel to Liverpool for Sunday night’s SPOTY awards, although the following day she is due to fly to Thailand. She is playing an exhibition tournament in HuaHin on December 23 and 24 before going on to prepare for the Brisbane International event that marks the start of the official tour season on January 1.
Andy Murray is also due to make his comeback there. Murray flew back to London on Tuesday from a training block in Miami and is expected to have an early Christmas at home before flying out to Australia prior to the 25th to begin his preparations.