Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Tax List finds Russian-born billionaire has overtaken Bet356 family as UK's top taxpayer

Tax List finds Russian-born billionaire has overtaken Bet356 family as UK's top taxpayer

The UK's new top taxpayer, according to The Sunday Times Tax List, is not Nadhim Zahawi but a little-known City billionaire. The list shows a leap in the amounts being paid by the UK's top ten taxpayers - and raises questions about how taxes will fund public services in the future.

A Russian-born City billionaire is the UK's top taxpayer, according to a closely watched list.

Alex Gerko, the founder of XTX Markets who has British citizenship, was deemed to have stumped up £487.4m in the last tax year by the Sunday Times Tax List.

The sum is the equivalent of around £55,639 an hour, the report said, as it revealed a shake-up at the top of the rankings.

The founder of online gambling firm Bet365, Denise Coates, and her family were shifted into second place for the first time in the list's history.

They were said to have paid £460.2m to UK coffers on the back of their earnings.

The top ten taxpayers, main area of interest, and estimated sum:

• Alex Gerko (financial trading) £487.4m

• Denise, John and Peter Coates (gambling) £460.2m

• Stephen Rubin and family (sportswear) £392.3m

• Sir Chris Hohn (hedge fund) £263m

• Fred and Peter Done and family (gambling) £136.8m

• Mike Ashley (sports equipment and fashion) £133.5m

• Tim Martin (pubs) £123.2m

• Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan and family (food) £120.7m

• Tom Morris and family (retail) £112.2m

• Ian and Richard Livingstone (property) £104m

Denise Coates and her family have headed the list for the past three years


Other big names in the top 100 include Sting, the Duke of Westminster and Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

Those making the list were liable for a total of almost £5.2bn of UK tax last year - with the top ten responsible for delivering £2.3bn alone - a rise of nearly 14% on the total reported 12 months ago.

The sums are calculated based on publicly available filings and can include corporation tax, dividend tax, capital gains tax, income tax and payroll tax payments, along with any gambling and alcohol duties.

Who is Alex Gerko?


Mr Gerko - unlike many of the others making the top 100 - is not a household name.

He owns 75% of algorithm-led trading firm XTX which, according to Bloomberg, paid out a dividend of £1.3bn last March.

Mr Gerko has many charitable interests and those have reportedly included support for Ukraine-linked causes in the wake of Russia's invasion.

The new rankings were released as a whiff of tax-related scandal hangs over Westminster, with Nadhim Zahawi under pressure to quit as the Tory party chairman.

He is facing an investigation into whether he breached the ministerial code over an HMRC tax settlement, estimated to have been worth £4.8m, while he was chancellor.

Pressure on his position has grown since the boss of HMRC told MPs there are "no penalties for innocent errors".

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is also under pressure on the issue of tax. He is facing pressure from critics on multiple fronts, with Tory backbenchers keen on tax cuts and others urging him to make the wealthiest pay more to help ease the budget deficit and pay striking public sector workers more.

In a speech today he appeared to rule out any immediate tax cuts while talking up Britain's economic prospects.

List raises questions about funding public services


Robert Watts, the list's author, said: "You will find celebrities on the Tax List but many of the entries are people who quietly run largely unheralded businesses that have been creating jobs and paying millions of tax for decades or even centuries.

"So-called 'unicorn' tech firms may dominate the headlines, but they often aren't cash cows for the Treasury because they don't employ large numbers of people or show big profits.

"It's the long-established retailers, pub groups and other bricks-and-mortar businesses that often contribute more.

"There lies the challenge for the chancellor and his successors. As our economy inevitably shifts further and further online, how do we continue to fund the public services we all want?"

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×