Branson May Be Tempted Back To UK By CGT Changes

by Caroline Maxwell, Tax-News.com, London

19 March 2002

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has revealed that changes to the Capital Gains Tax regime in the UK may entice the company back onshore.

Speaking to The Observer at the weekend, the entrepreneur explained that he originally based the majority of his UK founded empire in the Caribbean in order to enable cash from profitable enterprises to be invested in those ventures which required large scale investment, without becoming subject to punitive CGT levels.

However, changes to the gains tax in last year's budget in the United Kingdom could mean that the complex structure of his organisation, the majority of which is incorporated in the Virgin Islands, may no longer be necessary.

'In two or three years, the need to be offshore may disappear, and we can move back onshore,' Richard Branson told the Sunday Observer. 'The new rules mean that we will be able to roll investment from one company to another in a much more efficient way.'

However, he admitted that the plans are still being studied by the company's advisers, and are at a relatively early stage.

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