Ed Sheeran, JK Rowling and Bernie Ecclestone have all appeared in a list of Britain’s top 100 taxpayers.
They are among 100 famous individuals and families who have made it into the Sunday Times Tax List, which also features Russian-born financial trader Alex Gerko and Whetherspoon founder Sir Tim Martin.
The list shows that two-thirds of the super-rich who appeared in the list are paying less tax this year compared to the last, which comes as families across the UK are feeling the financial strain amid the cost of living crisis.
The research also found that if you discount the tax bills from both Ecclestone and Gerko, who are ranked as the top two with, then the total tax paid by the remaining people on the list is down by £200 million from last year.
Sheeran, who is the youngest single taxpayer to appear on the list, is ranked 32nd in this year’s list, with an estimated tax bill of £39.6 million, one space below the Harry Potter author who is 31st and is said to have paid £40 million to the tax man.
Ed Sheeran has been ranked 32nd in a list of Britain’s top 100 taxpayers
Harry Potter author JK Rowling is 31st and is said to have paid £40 million to the tax man
Bernie Ecclestone, 93, was the second-biggest tax payer after he made a more than half-billion pound tax settlement last year, according to the list
The list shows that the total tax paid by the individuals and families on the list was £5.353 billion, which is three per cent more than a year ago.
It also said that two-thirds of the people who were on last year’s list paid less tax this year which was mostly because people’s businesses made less profit last year.
However, it comes at a time when the Office for Budget Responsibility expects the UK tax burden to hit a post-war high before the end of the decade.
Gerko is top of the list with a tax bill of £664.5 million, which The Times says is due to a £1.2 billion dividend that he received from his financial trading outfit XTX, of which he is the CEO and owns a 75 per cent share.
It is the second time in a row that the Moscow-born mathematician, 44, who has previously spoken out against Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, has topped the list.
His £664.5 million tax bill, which equates to him paying more than £1.8 million in tax each day, is the highest to ever to feature in the list.
Ecclestone meanwhile, was the second-biggest tax payer after he made a more than half-billion pound tax settlement last year, according to the list.
The millionaire businessman, 93, in October agreed a £652.6 million settlement over tax that he was meant to pay to HM Revenue & Customs during 18 years starting in 1994.
Third on the list were Denise, John and Peter Coates, the family behind online gambling giant Bet365. They paid £375.9 million.
The gambling fortune of Fred and Peter Done and family put them in fourth place at £204.6 million, closely followed by Sir Tim Martin.
Alex Gerko is top of the list with a tax bill of £664.5 million, which The Times says is due to a £1.2 billion dividend that he received from his financial trading outfit XTX
Whetherspoon founder Sir Tim Martin appeared fifth on the list with a tax bill of £167.1 million
The Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor, and the Grosvenor family paid £50.1 million to the tax man last year and came 23rd on the list
Barry and Eddie Hearn and the Hearn family paid £18.4 million in taxes last year, earning them 64th in the Sunday Times list
Heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua paid £12.2 million in tax and appeared on this year’s list for the first time and ranked 88th
Only 18 women appeared on this year’s list, including Bet365 chief executive Denise Coates, who ranked 3rd.
Specsavers co-founder Dame Mary Perkins and The White Company founder Chrissie Rucker also appeared on the list in 11th and 40th, respectively.
Range founder Chris Dawson and his wife Sarah were ranked 100th on the list, with a tax bill of £10m.
Earlier this year, `the 71-year-old managed to save part of beloved High Street chain Wilko after finalising a deal to buy the name, website and intellectual property for £5m. He is now reportedly working on deals to get 50 shops reopened.
According to the list, businesses to do with construction accounted for 12 of the entries, which was the most of any other sector represented.
Nine entries came from people involved in property businesses, including the dynasties of Earl Cadogan, who own nearly 100 acres of Chelsea and Knightsbridge, and the Duke of Westminster, whose family’s property portfolio includes 300 acres of land in Mayfair and Belgravia.
‘This has been the highest taxing government since the Second World War and although the total tax take is up – it is only by 3.3%,’ said Tax List compiler Robert Watts.
‘Bernie Ecclestone seems to have saved Jeremy Hunt’s blushes. The total tax found in this year’s research would have been a wedge lower were it not for the vast sum shelled out by the Formula One tycoon to settle a long-running investigation.’
Bet365 chief executive Denise Coates ranked 3rd on this year’s list with a tax bill of £375.9m
Former Betfred owner Fred Done appeared 4th on the list. He and his family are said to have paid £204.6m in tax last year
Inventor and Dyson founder Sir James Dyson paid £156m in tax last year and was ranked 6th of the Sunday Times Tax List
Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley paid £133.5m in tax last year. The former Newcastle United owner appeared 8th on the list
The researchers said that Akshata Murty, the wife of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, was liable for tax of around £4.8 million after she gave up her non-dom status following political pressure. It was not enough to get her included on the list.
‘If you look at the bottom 98 in this year’s list they paid £4.03 billion, £200 million less than last year,’ Mr Watts said.
‘That’s the amount the Government pledged to the NHS to boost winter resilience. Two thirds of the wealthy individuals in 2023’s Tax List were found to have paid less tax this year.
‘That was usually because their businesses have reported lower profits. But lower tax receipts from the UK’s richest people may raise more than the odd eyebrow at a time when the public finances remain stretched and there is talk of Budget giveaways in the air.’