Bye bye, Britain! Sir Richard Branson sells Oxfordshire mansion and moves to holiday island tax haven home
- Virgin Group founder decides to leave UK for the British Virgin Islands
- Has famously draped himself in the Union Flag to promote his business
- Sir Richard insists he has left for his love of BVI rather than tax reasons
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As Britain’s best-known entrepreneur he has not been shy of wrapping himself – and his airline – in the Union flag.
But billionaire Sir Richard Branson has quit the UK to live full-time on his holiday island in a Caribbean tax haven, it was revealed yesterday.
The Virgin tycoon said he and wife Joan had chosen to move permanently to Necker as it allowed them to ‘live life to the full’ and enabled him to pursue hobbies including kite-surfing, tennis and pilates.
Saying goodbye: Sir Richard Branson has draped himself in the Union Flag to promote his business in the past. He is pictured here in Dubai in 2006. Now he is living on his holiday island of Necker in the British Virgin Islands
The 63-year-old denied reports he had
left Britain to become a tax exile, saying he was too wealthy to allow
tax considerations to dictate where he should live.
The British Virgin Islands have an income tax rate of zero, rather than the 45 per cent top rate in the UK. Sir Richard said: ‘I have not left Britain for tax reasons, but for my love of the beautiful British Virgin Islands and in particular Necker Island... We feel it gives me and my wife Joan the best chance to live another productive few decades. We can also look after our health.
‘There is no better place to stay active and I can kite-surf, surf, play tennis, swim, do pilates and just play.’
Sir Richard previously lived in a 200-acre Oxfordshire estate and a mansion in Holland Park, West London.
The London property was sold almost seven years ago and documents lodged with the Land Registry show the Oxfordshire estate was sold to his children, Holly and Sam, for £1.35million in August last year.
Home sweet home: Sir Richard is now living on his holiday island of Necker in the British Virgin Islands
Inside the home: A spokesman for Virgin Group founder Sir Richard said he had been in Necker for seven years
Blaze: The property on Necker Island had to be rebuilt after parts were destroyed by a house fire in August 2011
Sir Richard, who is worth an estimated £3.5billion, has previously criticised wealthy individuals who left Britain to escape high tax rates. Earlier this year he said Britain’s tax regime was ‘very reasonable’ when compared to countries such as France, where high earners pay 80 per cent tax, and said it would be wrong for Chancellor George Osborne to lower rates for the wealthy.
In a statement on the Virgin website yesterday, he said: ‘I have been very fortunate to accumulate so much wealth in my career, more than I need in my lifetime, and would not live somewhere I don’t want to for tax reasons.’
Sir Richard will continue to pay tax on any UK income but Virgin Group Holdings, which encompasses his business empire, is controlled by family trusts based in the BVI, according to The Sunday Times.
From above: Sir Richard sold his Oxfordshire mansion to his children Holly, 31, and Sam, 28, for £1.35million in August last year - but the transfer is said to have taken place up to five years ago
Siblings: Holly and Sam, children of Sir Richard Branson, pictured at London's Royal Albert Hall in January 2008
Although he remains the public face of Virgin he said he now devoted the vast majority of his time to not-for-profit ventures and charity.
Sir Richard added: ‘The companies... have created tens of thousands of jobs and paid hundreds of millions in tax (and will continue to do so)... I also travel the world sharing what I’ve learned by doing speeches and trying to help the next generation of entrepreneurs.
‘One hundred per cent of any monies I earn from these engagements I give to charity. This amounts to many millions per year, and will continue to do so.’
Sir Richard’s spokesman said he had lived on Necker for seven years and stressed it made no difference for tax purposes if he lived in the UK or the BVI.
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Robert, Atlanta, 2 months ago
No amount of examples will ever convince the left since their entire belief system is built upon class warfare.