A record £5.7billion tax paid by the top 100 taxpayers in the UK

A record £5.7 billion tax paid by the top 100 taxpayers in the UK

The last year has seen a 15% increase in tax paid by the country’s leading taxpayers as total hits £5.7bn in the top 10 taxpayers.

The top five alone paid £1.38bn, accounting for a quarter of the total tax paid, including personal and business-related taxes calculated by The Sunday Times 2026 Tax List based on the latest accounts at Companies House.

Top of the list for the first time were Fred and Peter Done, the owners of Betfred Group Holdings, Peninsula Group and Croner-i, as well as a portfolio of global companies, paying a total tax bill of £400.1m, and moving up from £273m and second position last year. Their tax contribution was up 17% from last year’s Tax List, pushed up by increased employer national insurance bills and a change of reporting year end, which affected the overall tax liability.

Last year’s top payer was hedge fund owner Sir Chris Hohn who drops down to 18th place, paying £85.5m, down from £339m.

Second on the list this year was Alex Gerko, the Russian born City trader and founder of XTX Markets, who paid £331.4m, up from £202m the previous year, and up from sixth on the list.

Newcomer to the list was British billionaire Chris Rokos in third position. The founder of hedge fund Rokos Capital Management paid £330m and did not even feature in last year’s list. According to accounts filed at Companies House, his hedge fund reported revenues of £1.23bn in 2025.

The majority owner of JD Sports and the owner of the Speedo brand, Stephen Rubin and his family, are in fourth place two years in a row, and paid £325.6m in tax, an increase of 55% year-on-year.

The owner of pub super chain JD Wetherspoon, Sir Tim Martin also retains a top 10 position, paying £199.7m, up from £167.1m, with his 803 pubs hit by tax hikes due to changes in government policy. The founder of one of the nation’s favourite pub chains, jumped to eighth, up from 11th the previous year.

Away from the business community, a number of high profile sports and music stars are on the list. New this year is Manchester City’s Erling Haaland who paid £16.9m, and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah paying £14.5m. At just 25, Erling Haaland is the youngest person to appear on the list this year. Another returnee to the list this year was heavyweight champion boxer Anthony Joshua, who paid £11m in tax.

One of the biggest women taxpayers on the list is JK Rowling, who paid £47.5m, up from last year, still drawing substantial earnings from Harry Potter books, films and a new TV show being filmed by HBO, where she is an executive producer.

The Sunday Times Tax List calculations are based on total assets, including businesses and companies, and is drawn from annual reports at Companies House. It includes corporation tax, dividend tax, income tax, employer’s national insurance, gambling taxes and alcohol duties, based on the most recent filed accounts.