Why Meghan Markle (Probably) Won't Be Sharing Prince Harry's Royal Fortune
The upcoming royal wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is about to make the United Kingdom an insane amount of money. Their marriage is expected to boost the economy by $680 million thanks to related tourism and T-shirt sales. And while the U.K. will have a lot to thank the soon-to-be royal couple for, Markle will be dealing with some much less fun financial conundrums. Specifically, her United States taxes (and you thought doing yours was annoying).
Although Markle plans to become a U.K. citizen, the process will take approximately three years, during which time Markle will remain a U.S. citizen. Why is this important? Royal expert Marlene Koenig told The Sun, that “Even when married to a member of the British royal family, as long as she remains a U.S. citizen she will have to pay income tax.”
Though Markle has wealth of her own (much of which comes from her role on Suits) that she’ll pay taxes on, she’s also about to marry into a family with a very large fortune. Prince Harry received half of his mother’s £21.5 million (about $29.2 million) estate when she died, and he shares a £3.5 million (about $4.7 million) annual allowance with his brother and sister-in-law, William and Kate. And that’s not to mention the rest of royal family’s worth.
If Markle receives any of her new family’s money, she’ll be at risk of paying income tax on it. “If she receives money from her husband or his family, and that’s considered income, she would have to pay income tax on that,” Koenig explained.
This poses an issue for the royal family, since Markle could have to reveal details of foreign trusts and the worth of the royals’ estate which has remained undisclosed.
“With that sort of money, if Meghan’s name is on that account, most likely she would be dinged—that would have to be reported as income in the United States. You can be sure that those at Buckingham Palace and those who run the accounts are looking very carefully at all of this to make sure that the royal family’s money does not get reported to the IRS,” Koenig said.
While planning her wedding much feel like a fairytale, this part is a royal pain in the you-know-what.
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–Why Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Wedding Is Happening So Soon