Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson is 'tax exile for health reasons'

Sir Richard Branson makes great play of wrapping himself in patriotic trappings to promote his businesses, but Britain’s best-known entrepreneur on Sunday revealed he had been living as a tax exile for the last seven years after moving his main residence to a private Caribbean island.

Branson has swapped the union flag for the ensign of the British Virgin Islands, where income is not taxed. Having nominated Necker, an island he bought in the 1970s, as his tax base, he can only spend a maximum of between 46 and 183 days a year in the UK.

Defending his decision following a report in the Sunday Times, Branson said he planned to spend his remaining years on Necker for the sake of his health rather than to protect his bank balance.

“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,” he wrote on his Virgin blog.

“I still work day and night, now focusing on not-for-profit ventures, but on Necker I can also look after my health. There is no better place to stay active and I can kitesurf, surf, play tennis, swim, do pilates and just play.”

His Virgin companies have frequently referenced their British origins in branding campaigns. When Margaret Thatcher criticised British Airways for dropping the union flag from its tailfins, Branson commissioned his planes to be decorated with flying ladies trailing the British flag.