Done brothers are North West's top taxpayers after vowing they 'owe this country' and would never move to a tax haven

Fred and Peter Done are among Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs

They vowed they would never move to a tax haven – and now billionaire brothers Peter and Fred Done have been named the biggest taxpayers in the North West.

The latest Sunday Times Tax List shows Betfred founders Fred and Peter Done and family were liable for an estimated £204.6m in tax last year – making them the fourth highest taxpayers in Britain. Peter Done, who today leads employment law firm Peninsula Group, spoke to BusinessLive last year – and said he would never move to a tax haven.

He said: “I could easily get an apartment in Monaco and save millions every year. But we do our business consultancy in the UK. It’s international of course but we built our business here.

“We owe this country. I feel there is an obligation for people that have made the money in that country to pay the tax in that country.

“I really don’t like when big business people move out straight away and then try and say it’s for different reasons. Everybody knows why they moved to Monaco, why they moved to the Channel Islands. We’ve never done that, we’re never going to be doing that. Fred and myself are stopping here.”

Fred Done also founded developer Salboy, whose projects include Gary Neville’s St Michael’s scheme in Manchester city centre.

The Sunday Times said the second biggest taxpayers in the North West were John Timpson and family, who were estimated to be liable for almost £100m. Home Bargains founder Tom Morris and his family were liable for £91.7m, with Together Financial Services founder Henry Moser liable for £39.6m.

Baking family the Warburtons were fifth, with a liability of £31.3m, while the Sheppard family behind scrap metal giant European Metal Recycling were in sixth.

The Arora family, who grew B&M Bargains into a national retail powerhouse, were liable for £14.7m while Daren Whitaker of Manchester property developer Renaker was liable for £13.1m.

David and Richard Knight and family, of Prescot-based global metals testing business Alfrewd H Knight, were ninth with a tax liability of £10.4m.

Nationally the top taxpayer was financial trader Alex Gerko, of XTX Markets, with a tax liability of £664.5m. That’s up from last year, when he also topped the list with an estimated tax liability of £487.4m.

Bernie Ecclestone was second, with a liability of £652.6m. Betting tycoon Denise Coates and family, who are behind Bet365, were next with a tax liability of £375.9m. The Dones were fourth, and Wetherspoon boss Sir Tim Martin was fifth with an estimated tax liability of £167.1m.

The Sunday Times found a hundred individuals and families paid £5.353bn of tax – up 3.3% on a year ago.

Robert Watts, the compiler of The Sunday Times Tax List, said: “This has been the highest taxing government since the Second World War and although the total tax take is up – it is only by 3.3 per cent. Bernie Ecclestone seems to have saved Jeremy Hunt’s blushes. The total tax found in this year’s research would have been a wedge lower were it not for the vast sum shelled out by the Formula One tycoon to settle a long-running investigation.

“If you look at the bottom 98 in this year’s list they paid £4.0335 billion, £200 million less than last year. That’s the amount the government pledged to the NHS to boost winter resilience. Two thirds of the wealthy individuals in 2023’s Tax List were found to have paid less tax this year. That was usually because their businesses have reported lower profits. But lower tax receipts from the UK’s richest people may raise more than the odd eyebrow at a time when the public finances remain stretched and there is talk of budget giveaways in the air.

“Since our first Tax List five years ago our research has found there are wealthy people who do contribute a great deal to the public finances. But we do know our readers like to compare the names on the Tax List with those with the Rich List and wonder why there are not more people who feature on both lists.”

The Sunday Times stressed that “Absence from the Tax List does not imply individuals are not paying their UK taxes; simply that the compilers have been unable to estimate how much they have paid.”

Sir Tim Martin told The Sunday Times it was “vitally important” that more companies reported all the tax they paid. “Without this perspective people may become more cynical about free enterprise, which is the vital engine of prosperity, and thereby freedom, for democratic societies.”

The Sunday Times Tax List – North West’s top taxpayers