Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton on winning the Formula 1 world championship. I see that The Times gives the victory extensive coverage and Lewis himself attributes much of his success to his father – ‘he’s the man’, he says. The Times gives a potted history of Lewis, noting that he was born in 1985 and that in 1988 his father ‘moves permanently from Grenada [where Lewis’s grandparents lived] to Britain’. I guess that would mean that his father was non-domiciled in the UK – I wonder how ‘permanent’ that move might have been? But now I think of it, is that relevant for young Lewis? HMRC say that ‘the moment you were born you acquired a domicile of origin by operation of law. In most cases you take the domicile of one of your parents. Note that this may be different from the country where you were born. ‘For example if your parents were married when you were born [Lewis's were] your domicile of origin is the same as your father’s current domicile.’ I would say that one could argue that dad was clearly non-domiciled when Lewis was born and even if he has become UK domiciled since then, has Lewis? Apparently, Hamilton mentioned on 'Parkinson' (10 November 2007) that taxation was partly responsible for his decision to go to live in Switzerland, in addition to wanting more privacy. Privacy regarding his tax affairs presumably.