The list features the UK’s 100 biggest taxpayers with the total amount paid coming to over £5 billion
Northern Ireland’s biggest taxpayers have been revealed on The Sudnay Times Tax List 2026.
The eighth edition of the Tax List features figures from the worlds of music and arts, high finance and the high street, as well as billionaire aristocrats and rags-to-riches entrepreneurs. It features 100 wealthy individuals or families from around the UK, with the total tax amount paid by all featured coming to £5.758 billion.
The Tax List rankings include corporation tax, dividend tax, capital gains tax, income tax and some payroll taxes as well as gambling and alcohol duties, according to the most recently filed company accounts. These are calculated in proportion with ownership of the company in question.
READ MORE: Search for British-Irish man Kevin Walsh who disappeared in Costa del SolREAD MORE: Wyse Byse announces closure of all locations after 53 years in business
In Northern Ireland, the highest taxpayer is William Barnett and family, working in the sector of food distribution. They have paid £23 million in tax.
The family has been described as having “interests spanning everything from grain and animal feed to packaging, oils, and molasses.” They ranked as the 58th highest taxpayer across the UK.
The second highest regional taxpayer is Harold Montgomery and family, working in the transport sector. They came in 96th on the UK wide list of highest taxpayers, paying £11.8 million.
Providing some detail, the guide adds: “Montgomery’s Co Antrim -based logistics group now employs more than 2,000 people.”
In the UK-wide guide, gambling founders Fred and Peter Done of Betfred top the rankings for the first time, with an estimated contribution of £400.1 million, up from £273.4 million a year ago. The brothers founded the company in 1967 and it is headquartered in Warrington, Cheshire.
Former One Direction star Harry Styles is a new entry at number 54, paying £24.7 million. Also appearing for the first time are two footballers: Manchester City striker Erling Haaland (number 72), who earns £500,000 a week plus £10 million in extras, with an estimated tax payment of £16.9 million, and Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah (number 81), whose £400,000-a-week basic salary plus an estimated £10 million in bonuses and additional payments results in a tax bill of £14.5 million.
Other familiar names on the list include Harry Potter author JK Rowling (number 36, £47.5 million or £130,000 a day), stadium-filling musician Ed Sheeran (number 64, £19.9 million) and heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua (number 100, £11 million).
Robert Watts, who compiled The Sunday Times Tax List, said: “The Sunday Times Tax List features household names as well as some of our economy’s hidden heroes, quietly successful entrepreneurs who have set up companies employing hundreds of people and plugging vast sums into the public finances.
“This is an increasingly diverse list with Premier League footballers and world famous pop stars lining up alongside aristocrats and business owners selling pies, pillows and baby milk.
“This year there’s been a big jump in the amount of tax we’ve identified — largely because of higher corporation tax rates. All of the 100 individuals and families who appear delivered at least £11 million to the Exchequer over the past year. Fourteen of the entries paid at least £100 million.”
Robert Watts, added: “One in nine of the people who make the Tax List are no longer listed as resident here in the UK, instead choosing to live in Monaco, Dubai, Switzerland, Cyprus, Portugal, the United States or the Channel Islands.
“Clearly the Tax Listers who have moved offshore are still delivering huge sums to HM Treasury through their businesses, but the Chancellor would no doubt be raising even more money from these people had they chosen to stay put and remain liable for personal tax here.
“It’s hard to see how an exodus of the super rich from these shores is anything to cheer for those who care about the future of our public finances.”
You can read the full Sunday Times Tax List 2026 by clicking here.
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.