JK Rowling and Ed Sheeran estimated to be among UK's highest tax payers

A Russian-born billionaire, JK Rowling and Ed Sheeran all feature in an estimated list of the highest UK tax payers.

The 100 contributors, ranked by the Sunday Times, were judged to have added £5.35bn to public finances last year.

The newspaper estimated tax paid on business profits, share sales, dividends, house purchases and personal income.

Two-thirds of the list paid less tax in 2023 than in the year before, it said.

Originally from Moscow, financial trader Alex Gerko topped the index, followed by former Formula 1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, while the boss of gambling firm Bet365, Denise Coates, came in third.

Mr Ecclestone is a new entry after paying £650m in tax and penalties to HMRC to avoid jail. The 93-year-old failed to declare more than £400m held in a trust in Singapore when asked by tax authorities in 2015.

As the largest taxpayer, Mr Gerko - who was ranked 15th in last year's Sunday Times Rich List - paid an estimated £664.5m for the 2023 financial year, an equivalent of more than £1.8m a day.

The Russian-born financial trader, who founded algorithmic trading firm XTX Markets, renounced his Russian nationality and gained British citizenship in 2016.

"In the world of algorithmic trading, this guy's a rock star," Robert Watts, who compiled the list, told the BBC.

Akshata Murty, the wife of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, paid tax of about £4.8m, according to the newspaper's calculations, but did not make the minimum £10m threshold to make the list.

In 2022, Ms Murty, the daughter of an Indian IT billionaire, agreed to pay UK taxes on all her earnings after it was revealed she had "non-dom" status - meaning she did not pay UK tax on overseas income.

Source: Sunday Times

HMRC do not comment on individual cases so the BBC cannot verify the estimates provided by the Times.

"Is it possible that people have slipped through the net? Absolutely," Mr Watts said.

"Tax returns aren't made public, but this is for the best of what we feel we can do, looking at those public documents."

He added that some of the individuals and families who made up the index had volunteered their tax information to the newspaper.

Two thirds of the wealthy individuals the list were judged to have paid less tax this year than last, which according to Mr Watts could be because businesses have reported lower profits.

"Bernie Ecclestone, having contributed £652.6m this year, was a one-off win for the public finances. Without that payment, the total take on this year's taxes would have been down on last year," he said. Gambling billionaire Denise Coates, Specsavers founder Dame Mary Perkins and retailer Chrissie Rucker are among 18 women to appear in this year's rankings.

More than a quarter of the entries were London-based, with another eight from south-east England. Thirteen came from the Midlands, 11 from south-west England and 10 from Scotland, where the top rate of tax will increase from 47% to 48% from April.

Heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua is 88th out of 100 on the index, after his company posted a turnover of £129m. He contributed over £12m in UK tax.

Author JK Rowling ranks 31st on the list, having paid £40m in UK taxes in the past 12 months. One below at 32nd is Ed Sheeran who paid more than £36m in UK tax.

"We do know our readers like to compare the names on the Tax List with those with the Rich List and wonder why there are not more people who feature on both lists," Mr Watts said.

The Hinduja family, who own a vast conglomerate of businesses across the world and whose combined wealth is £35bn, topped the Sunday Times Rich List last year, but did not feature on the tax list.

According to Mr Watts this is because their wealth is derived from businesses that are not in the UK.

"The UK has become a magnet to some of the world's wealthiest people. They enjoy the cultural life that the UK operates and its wealth managers, they don't necessarily create many businesses here and so they probably do pay a lot of tax that they pay in other countries, and we only count tax that we are confident that is paid here in the UK," he added.

The full list can be found here.