Sir Richard Branson sells Oxfordshire mansion and moves to holiday island tax haven home

Sir Richard Branson has left Britain and is living on his holiday island of Necker, it emerged today.

The decision to leave the country for the British Virgin Islands is a turnaround for the charismatic 63-year-old entrepreneur, who has draped himself in the Union Flag to promote his business.

However, a spokesman for the Virgin Group founder said he had been there for seven years and stressed it made no difference for tax purposes whether he was in the UK or British Virgin Islands.

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. He 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, reported The Sunday Times.

Sir Richard – who is said by Forbes to be worth almost £3billion – had also sold his mansion in Holland Park, west London, around seven years ago after putting it up for sale for £17.5million.

The British Virgin Islands has a zero rate of income tax and a maximum ‘payroll tax’ of 8 per cent – much lower than the rate of up to 50 per cent Sir Richard might have to pay if he was a UK resident.

Non-residency rules mean Sir Richard is permitted to be in Britain between 46 and 183 days a 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

Sir Richard said on the Virgin website today: ‘We are fortunate enough to live on Necker, the most beautiful place in the world, because it is our home where we can live life to the full.

‘We are fortunate enough to live on Necker, the most beautiful place in the world, because it is our home where we can live life to the full’ - Sir Richard Branson

‘I have not left Britain for tax reasons, but for my love of the beautiful British Virgin Islands and in particular Necker Island, which I bought when I was 29 years old, 34 years ago as an uninhabited island on the edges of the BVI.

‘Over that time, we have built our home there, a place where my family and I are able to truly relax.’

His spokesman said: ‘After almost 40 years of working in the UK, Richard, now in his 60s, chose to live on his island Necker in the British Virgin Islands, an island he bought in 1979.