Author JK Rowling has been revealed to be one of the highest taxpayers in Scotland, alongside magnates from business and industry.

The Harry Potter writer was said to have contributed £40m in tax during the past 12 months, after her earnings were bolstered by the release off the new film in the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ series, along with the video game Hogwarts Legacy – one of the biggest selling titles last year.

Rowling came third in the list, which was topped by Lady Philomena Clark, the widow of car magnate Arnold Clark.

She and her family were said to have contributed £78 million in tax. In second place was Glenn Gordon, scion of the Grant family and chairman of drinks company William Grant & Sons, who paid £74m.

Across the UK, the 100 wealthy individuals or families revealed in this year’s Sunday Times Tax List were liable for a total of £5.353 billion of UK tax last year.

The sixth edition of the Tax List — released as millions of people race to meet the self-assessment deadline — 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.

Originally from Moscow, financial trader Alex Gerko topped the index, followed by former F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, while the boss of gambling firm Bet365, Denise Coates, came in third.

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Mr Ecclestone is a new entry after paying £650m in tax and penalties to HMRC to avoid jail. The 93-year-old failed to declare more than £400m held in a trust in Singapore when asked by tax authorities in 2015.

As the largest taxpayer, Mr Gerko - who was ranked 15th in last year's Sunday Times Rich List - paid an estimated £664.5m for the 2023 financial year, an equivalent of more than £1.8m a day.

The Russian-born financial trader, who founded algorithmic trading firm XTX Markets, renounced his Russian nationality and gained British citizenship in 2016.

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Robert Watts, the compiler of The Sunday Times Tax List said: “The Tax List is a reflection of the state of our public finances and is sobering reading for all political parties in the run-up to the election.

“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.