Atop the list sits CEO and billionaire hedge fund manager Sir Chris Hohn, who paid HMRC £339M last year. Hohn founded ‘The Children’s Investment Fund Management’ which is currently the 2nd largest in the UK and 6th largest in the world.
Hohn is closely followed by the Done and Coates families, owners of the bookmakers Betfred and Bet365, respectively. Denise Coates, founder and CEO of Bet365 is the richest woman in the UK, worth £7.67B according to Forbes.
In 7th is Mike Ashley, founder and former CEO of the Fraser group, which owns the likes of Sports Direct, GAME, and House of Fraser. Ashley is also known for having previously owned Newcastle United Football Club, after purchasing the club for £134M in 2007.
His unpopular tenure (including two relegations from the Premier League) ended when the club was sold to Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) for £300M in 2021, netting the retail tycoon a cool £196M in profit. An estimated current net worth of £4.4B ranks Ashley as the 18th richest in the UK.
Elsewhere in the top ten, Sir Tim Martin - the CEO and Founder of JD Wetherspoon - finds himself 8th, in the company of the Rubin, Weston, and Morris families (all high-street business owners), and Mark and Lindy O’Hare, who sold their data firm Preqin for £2.55B in the summer.
27th in the list is JK Rowling, author of the highly successful Harry Potter series, who paid £47M, followed at a distance by Ed Sheeran in 60th, who is estimated to have paid £19.9M.
Down in 92nd is the band Queen, who paid out £11.8M - a new entry into this year’s top 100 after earning £19.8M in dividends from their music catalogue.
The list is closed out by Graham Day and family, owners of a Swansea-based car dealership founded nearly a century ago, paying a total of £11.1M to HMRC.
With potential inheritance tax changes on the horizon, future rankings may look quite different as families and businesses seek strategies to reduce their tax liabilities under the new policies.