Latest news with #SundayTimesRichList
The Independent
6 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
MPs baffled as HMRC unsure how many billionaires pay tax in UK
A new report reveals HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) cannot identify how much tax UK billionaires pay, despite the small number of individuals and vast sums involved. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) stated HMRC "can and must" do more to understand and explain the tax contribution made by the nation's wealthiest. Its report on collecting the right tax from wealthy individuals said: 'HMRC does not know how many billionaires pay tax in the UK or how much they contribute overall.' It highlighted The Sunday Times Rich List and artificial intelligence (AI) as ways that the revenue body could dig deeper into wealth and assets. The PAC is calling for the revenue body to publish its plan for increasing tax yield from wealthy taxpayers both domestically and offshore. It said HMRC does not collect information on taxpayers' wealth and says that it only collects the data needed to administer the tax system as required by UK tax legislation. The report said: 'There is much public interest in the amount of tax the wealthy pay. 'People need to know everyone pays their fair share.' HMRC's plan for improving its understanding of the wealth and assets held by billionaires could include how it might immediately start work on comparing available data on known billionaires, such as The Sunday Times Rich List, with its own records, the report suggested. In the United States, the Inland Revenue Service has worked with researchers to link its data to The Forbes 400, the report said. There is 'much more' that HMRC can do to improve its work to risk assess and target wealthy people, in particular through the use of data and technology and recruiting wealth management experts, it added. It said: 'We think there is scope for HMRC to use artificial intelligence (AI) to better exploit and analyse data and, in this way, improve its risk assessment and targeting of wealthy individuals. 'Possible uses of AI to speed up the system include sifting large amounts of data and suggesting what information is missing from tax returns.' The tax authority told the inquiry that the tax gaps – the difference between taxes theoretically owed and those actually paid – for wealthy people and for offshore wealth are particularly difficult to measure. Since 2019-20, HMRC defines wealthy individuals as those with incomes of £200,000 or more, or assets equal to or above £2 million, in any of the past three years. The PAC said it is concerned that HMRC is overly confident and optimistic in its estimate that the wealthy tax gap is £1.9 billion. Its partial estimate of the offshore tax gap, of £0.3 billion, seems far too low, particularly when compared with UK residents holding £849 billion in offshore accounts in 2019, the committee said. PAC member Lloyd Hatton said: 'This report is not concerned with political debate around the redistribution of wealth. 'Our committee's role is to help HMRC do its job properly ensuring wealthy people pay the correct tax. 'While HMRC does deserve some great credit for securing billions more in the tax take from the wealthiest in recent years, there is still a very long way to go before we can reach a true accounting of what is owed. 'We already know a great deal about billionaires living in the UK, with much information about their tax affairs and wealth in the public domain. 'So we were disappointed to find that HMRC, of all organisations, was unable to provide any insight into their tax affairs from its own data – particularly given that any single one of these individuals' contributions could make a significant difference to the overall picture. 'We found a similar apparent lack of curiosity in how wide the tax gap is both for the very wealthy and for wealth stashed away offshore. 'Our report shows that, however you slice it, there is a lot of money being left on the table. 'HMRC must, under its new leadership, begin collecting the correct amount of tax from the very wealthiest – and this must include wealth that is currently squirrelled away in tax havens. 'There is certainly room for improvement.' The yield from HMRC's compliance work with wealthy individuals has more than doubled in recent years, with it collecting £5.2 billion in 2023-24, up from £2.2 billion in 2019-20. But the report said: 'The scale of this success suggests either non-compliance among the wealthy has got worse, or that previous estimates of the extent to which they were avoiding tax were too low.' HMRC has identified opportunities that will help it close the tax gap. There are currently around 1,000 people in the wealthy team, and HMRC has secured funding for another 400 staff, the report said. The population of wealthy taxpayers that HMRC's wealthy team administers is growing, up from 700,000 individuals in 2019-20 to 850,000 individuals in 2023-24, it added. HMRC treats wealthy people as one single group and says it finds some billionaires have quite straightforward tax planning, while some millionaires with much lower wealth will have set up very complex offshore trusts and structures, the committee said. The revenue body deploys customer compliance managers according to taxpayers who pose the most risk and says managers typically end up working on cases relating to individuals with wealth above £10 million, it added. The committee recommended that HMRC should review whether segmenting its wealthy customer group according to different levels of wealth and complexity would help it to assess and then target the most significant risks. HMRC should also write to the committee to explain how confirmed funding to date will feed through to better compliance performance, and what it expects to achieve from future investment, the committee said. It added that a lack of penalties issued to enablers of tax evasion is 'particularly disappointing' despite unscrupulous advisers often playing a key role in helping the wealthy evade tax. HMRC should assess whether it is using its powers to tackle non-compliance by the wealthy sufficiently, in particular, whether it makes enough use of available sanctions, the report said. An HMRC spokesperson said: 'The Government is determined to make sure everyone pays the tax they owe. 'Extra resources were announced in the recent spending review which allows us to significantly step up our work on closing the tax gap amongst the wealthiest. 'This includes recruiting an extra 400 officials specialising in the wealthy and offshore tax gap, and increasing prosecutions of those who evade tax.' HMRC assesses the wealthy population according to who poses the biggest risk based on all taxable income and gains, rather than wealth alone.
Telegraph
11-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
‘I gambled my last £10k to set up my company, and sold it for £4.1bn'
In this series, Telegraph Money speaks to millionaires to find out how they made their fortunes. How did you make your first million? If you'd like to share your story, email money@ Running rabbit kennels, selling conkers, becoming a magician: Richard Harpin's entrepreneurial prowess began in primary school, with each path yielding its own particular charm. 'I don't think I ever had a long-term plan other than: I do want to one day run my own proper business,' the 60-year-old reflects. 'I'm looking for that big idea.' It's fair to say that he got there in the end (and then some), selling HomeServe, his home assistance service business, to a Canadian asset management firm for £4.1bn in 2023. The sale has prompted the writing of his upcoming book, How to Make a Billion in Nine Steps. Part memoir, part business toolkit, it charts the wins and inevitable failures that made HomeServe a multi-billion pound British success story, and secured Harpin a spot on the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated personal wealth of £700m. Harpin never set out to make so much as £1m, he says. Born in Huddersfield and raised in Northumberland, business was just part of who he was. 'As a boy, I built businesses the way my school friends built Airfix kits,' he says. The most successful of these was a fly-tie fishing company he started in his teens, which had staff in Kenya and Newcastle, where Geordie housewives would package the goods. It gathered enough profit for a car and a 10pc deposit on his first house by the time he left university. He later landed a graduate role at Procter & Gamble, working as a brand assistant for Fairy Liquid (the reason, he says, that his hands remain soft even now) – but doing a day job alone didn't cut it. Harpin began shifting Christmas trees in pub car parks to make extra cash. Once other vendors who were paying rental rates realised he was selling his wares without such costs, however, they complained, and Harpin was left with a vast – and dying – inventory. 'I lost a couple of my selling sites and ended up with about 1,000 trees that I wasn't going to be able to sell, so I got up at 4am and sold them at the fruit and veg market every morning,' he says. 'I managed to get rid of every tree and worked so hard. [I] made no money that year, but [it was] a big learning point.' Another would come a few years later. He had met Jeremy Middleton, who would become his business partner, at Procter & Gamble in the early 1980s, with the pair going on to start up a lettings agency, ironing service and decorating company along with a string of other ventures. They egged each other on in search of the 'big idea' and undertaking the unusual strategy of attending prospective staff's homes to interview them, so they could eye up their kitchen table (with a view to choosing an employee based on one they wanted to work from). Their first member of staff was hired on that basis; their weekly tête-à-têtes and meetings with prospective renters were held at that kitchen table, too. Pivoting to property management gave Harpin his next step – a home repair and maintenance business, funded by his and Middleton's life savings. But trouble struck when FastFix (then renamed A1 FastFix, to get it to the top of the Yellow Pages) expanded. They had secured investment from South Staffordshire Water. 'I thought that we'd get economies of scale and therefore the business would get to profit – it didn't,' Harpin says. 'The losses got bigger because it was the wrong model, so I became increasingly unconfident, and thinking: 'how am I going to find a way through this?'' The business lost half a million in its first year, leaving Harpin down to his last £10,000. Even Middleton told him: 'You've got to admit your life's dream of becoming a successful entrepreneur is over, you better go back and work for Procter & Gamble.' He had other ideas. With that final chunk of cash, he devised a new company, inspired by the plumbing insurance cover he had seen offered by Sutton Waters, a water company in Surrey. He mailed an offer for an equivalent service to 1,000 of his customers, 38 of whom sent back a cheque for £50. 'That was the magic moment. I got on my desk in front of those 23 [staff] who thought they were going to lose their job,' he says. He told them: 'We made it.' Harpin was convinced that if this take-up rate within 1,000 households could be replicated at scale across 100,000 households, the business could work millions of times over. By the end of the company's second year, it had more than 100,000 customers pumping turnover up to £3.67m, that first-year loss becoming a profit of £700,000. The following year, with an affinity partnership signed with Anglian Water, turnover had doubled, doubling again by the end of the 1997-98 financial year to £14m. Harpin is loath to dwell on the negatives in his business past – which may well include the £30m fine HomeServe was issued by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2014 for mis-selling insurance policies and failing to properly investigate complaints. 'Mistakes are fuel,' he believes. 'I'm resilient and determined, and I knew that I'd find a way through because that was my life's dream, and nobody was going to stop me.' According to Harpin, 50pc of entrepreneurs are struck by their big idea later in life, while '50pc of entrepreneurs are born entrepreneurs, and that was definitely me'. That hardwired drive explains why Harpin isn't sitting back and enjoying the spoils of his sale. He stayed on for two years as non-executive chairman of HomeServe (he says sacking himself as CEO was 'the best business decision I ever made'); has invested £150m of his own cash into different ventures – including a Yorkshire pub, and Checkatrade. He's also acquired a business magazine and podcast, written a 25-year business outline (HomeServe's chairman told him: 'I don't know of anybody else in the whole world that, after they've just sold the business, would have then written a career plan for the next 25 years'), and written the book. He is also on a mission to double the number of large companies in the UK, which he believes is a vital step in stimulating the economy. Taking his foot off the pedal is clearly not on the cards for Harpin, who was a major Conservative party donor until earlier this year (he'd given the party more than £3.5m since 2010; Rishi Sunak used Harpin's helicopter for campaign stops ahead of last year's election). He will not be spending his days troubling local golf courses or seeking out 'sun-drenched tax exile,' but instead splits his time between homes in Marylebone and a property close to York, spending non-work hours on pursuits like half marathons and triathlons with his children, skiing, and going on a selection of bucket list holidays. I ask Harpin what the word 'retirement' means to him. 'Death,' comes the response. 'The day that I die will be the day that I've retired.' 'How to Make a Billion in Nine Steps' is out now.
The National
11-07-2025
- Business
- The National
Anders Holch Povlsen expands Loch Ness estate with 3 holiday lets
Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen and his company, WildLands, have restored the homes on the shores of Loch Ness. Situated on the 500-acre Aldourie Estate, the Bestseller CEO will charge holidaymakers wishing to stay in the properties prices ranging from £470 to £720. Guests can exclusively rent the two-bedroom Gatehouse Cottage, a miniature version of the 400-year-old Aldourie Castle, for £470 per night, the cheapest of Povlsen and WildLands's latest offerings. READ MORE: 'Miracle' white-tailed eagle 'Kinky' spotted in skies above Scottish island Wildlands said ideas for renovating the cottage came from an 'original set of 19th-century drawings from the castle's archives', leading to it being dubbed the 'miniature castle'. Three-bedroom Garden Cottage is also available for short-term stays. Situated within the estate's walled garden, visits are priced at £500 per night. The most expensive offering is a revamped manse named Tigh Na Coille Cottage, setting guests back a whopping £720 per night. The four-bedroom property reportedly boasts 'sweeping views' of Loch Ness and Aldourie Castle and includes two lounges and a dining room. The three properties are the latest refurbishment projects by Povlsen and his company, following the restoration of Factor's Cottage and Ivy Cottage. READ MORE: Full list of designated bathing waters as Scotland sees another heatwave Povlsen purchased the castle, which also underwent renovations, and grounds back in 2015 for £15 million. The Danish billionaire, who is the largest shareholder in fast fashion retailer Asos, owns more than 220,000 acres of land across the country. Including the Aldourie Estate, Povlesen also owns estates in Sutherland and the Cairngorms. He was named the richest person in Scotland in this year's Sunday Times Rich List after his fortune grew by £974m, making him now worth £7.7 billion.
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Evening Standard
26-06-2025
- Business
- Evening Standard
Oil tanker billionaire rages that UK 'has gone to hell' as he axes London HQ
The oil tanker magnate, whose wealth was estimated at around £13.7 billon in this year's Sunday Times Rich List, is the latest in a series of wealthy foreign born London residents who are quitting the UK – or least loosening their links – because of Labour's scrapping of the non-dom tax regime and their disillusion with Britain's poor economic prospects.
Rhyl Journal
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Rhyl Journal
David Beckham's rollercoaster journey from Leyton Orient trial to a knighthood
Telling the aspiring young footballer he would go on to play for Manchester United and Real Madrid, captain England, marry a pop star and become one of the most recognisable faces on the planet, fronting global brands, might well have seemed just as far-fetched. It was, though, not an easy journey for the former midfielder, who turned 50 in May, to achieve all of that success, both on and off the pitch – with the 2025 Sunday Times Rich List showing the estimated combined net worth of Beckham and his wife Victoria at £500million. A post shared by David Beckham (@davidbeckham) Born in Leytonstone, east London, Beckham had a trial at local team Leyton Orient and also attended Tottenham's school of excellence – but his father Ted, a staunch Manchester United fan, remained determined he would go on to play at Old Trafford. After coming through the club's academy as part of the famed 'Class of 92', Beckham announced himself to the Premier League on the opening day of the 1996-97 season with a memorable goal from the halfway line against Wimbledon. While there were plenty of doubters as to what he could go on to achieve, Beckham answered them and more – claiming six Premier League titles and two FA Cups with Sir Alex Ferguson's all-conquering side as well as a dramatic 1999 Champions League final victory over Bayern Munich at the Nou Camp. International success, however, proved elusive for Beckham as England's so-called 'golden generation' repeatedly came up short. In a Netflix documentary series, released during October 2023, Beckham revealed he still cannot forgive himself for the abuse his family suffered amid the fallout from his red card at the 1998 World Cup for kicking the back of Diego Simeone's leg during the last-16 clash against Argentina in Saint-Etienne – which left him a 'mess'. A pub hung up an effigy of the midfielder and Beckham received a hostile reception from rival fans around the country when he returned to action for United the following season but, despite the backlash, he went on to become an integral part of the national team. Beckham, possessing an expert dead-ball strike, took on the armband in 2000 for six years through two World Cup tournaments and still stands third on the all-time appearance list with 115 caps. However, the continued glare of the spotlight off the pitch, with Beckham having married Spice Girls singer Victoria in a star-studded ceremony in July 1999, saw his relationship with Ferguson cool – a cut eye from a boot kicked by the Scot in the changing room further fuelling speculation over his future at United. In the summer of 2003, having made almost 400 appearances for United and scoring 85 goals, a £25million switch to Real Madrid followed as Beckham became the latest 'Galactico' signing by club president Florentino Perez. Beckham would go on to win the LaLiga title before he departed for LA Galaxy in 2007 and collected the MLS Cup twice, spending two loan stints at AC Milan along the way. In January 2013, Beckham returned to Europe with Paris St Germain, later announcing his decision to retire at the end of the season, when he signed off with a Ligue 1 winners' medal. Beckham's impact off the pitch, though, had already long been established before eventually hanging up his boots at the age of 38. Already thinking about life after football during his time in the United States, Beckham became a co-owner of the Inter Miami franchise – with the club entering Major League Soccer for the 2020 campaign and now boasting Lionel Messi on the teamsheet. The world is a very tough place for millions of children and a global funding crisis is leaving them more vulnerable. In response, ahead of his 50th birthday, David Beckham is launching a fundraiser for UNICEF, to help children dream and thrive. Donate: — UNICEF (@UNICEF) April 15, 2025 A multi-million-pound lifetime deal with Adidas, signed in 2003, had secured his financial future away from the game. Other lucrative, high-profile endorsements down the years have ranged from fashion designers Calvin Klein, Armani and Hugo Boss to tech giants Samsung, Haig Club whisky and Stella Artois as well as kitchen appliance manufacturer Ninja. Beckham, who was made an OBE for services to football in 2003, has long been involved with children's charity UNICEF, and is a co-owner of film production company Studio 99. In 2024, Beckham was appointed Ambassador for The King's Foundation which works globally to create sustainable communities through placemaking projects and also transform lives through practical education programmes.
