Taxing time for Ed Sheeran as singer pays £28m to HMRC
Ed Sheeran paid millions in tax this year, making this year s Sunday Times Tax List for the first time. (Getty Images)
Singer Ed Sheeran paid a whopping £28m in taxes this year, making him one of the UK’s biggest taxpayers.
Ed Sheeran was named along with 49 others as part of the Sunday Times Tax List, which lists the taxes paid by the wealthiest in the country.
Sheeran was by far the most high-profile new entry onto the tax list. His 2020 wealth stood at £200m.
Other high-profile names on the Sunday Times Tax List included Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who paid £34.8m to the taxman. Her wealth in 2020 stood at £795m.
Bet365 founder Denise Coates was the country’s largest taxpayer for the second year running, new figures show.
The betting website’s joint chief executive and her family, who are worth £7.166 billion, had a tax liability of £573 million last year, according to the annual Sunday Times Tax List.
Fred and Peter Done, the brothers behind bookmakers Betfred, came in third with a tax bill of £191.3 million, while inventor Sir James Dyson sat in sixth place having paid £115 million.
Ed Sheeran is a new entry to the UK top 50 taxpayer list (Ian West/PA)
Vacuum cleaner mogul Sir James, who topped the 2020 rich list with his £16.2 billion fortune, contributed £12 million more in tax than the year before.
Denise Coates runs the betting firm Bet365 with her father Peter and brother John
Denise, John and Peter Coates, the owners of online bookmaker Bet365, have been declared the UK s biggest taxpayers for the second year in a row.
The trio paid £573million in tax last year according to the Sunday Times Tax List, who said the amount was enough to cover the annual state pensions for over 67,000 people.
It assessed that over £200million of that sum came from corporation and payroll taxes, while the rest originated from salary and dividend taxes, and betting duty, which the list included in their calculations for the first time.