Kate Garraway hit with £700k tax bill from HMRC as Good Morning Britain host struggles after husband's death

ITV star Kate Garraway has reportedly been hit with a tax bill - which could cost her upwards of £700,000. According to insiders, HMRC has sent the Good Morning Britain presenter a bill for £716,000 from her late husband Derek Draper’s company. Draper died in January this year after suffering from long Covid, with medical bills that cost the couple £16,000 per month.

The closure of his company, Astra Aspera Ltd, has also left Garraway an additional £184,096 in debt. Earlier this week, the 57-year-old revealed on air that she’d been forced to plunder her pension fund to cover the medical bills.

It is estimated that Garraway earns around £540,000 per year, and before being hit with the debt had a net roughly £1.5m. But despite her salary and savings, the presenter says she has struggled with her new financial situation and is “ashamed” by it.

An inside source told The Sun: “It's no secret that Kate has had a lot of financial burdens to deal with including Derek's medical and care bills and the inevitable collapse of Derek's company. Kate has wisely sought some help and is working with a team to help guide her through addressing all these debts as speedily as possible.”

In the wake of her husband’s death, Garraway was even hounded by baliffs from her local council.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain earlier this week, she said: “I've just had to withdraw the bit you can tax-free for my pension to pay belated bills for my husband that passed away. People are having to do the things which aren't what they saved for and some people don't have any savings at all.

“I am ashamed of the fact that I am in debt because I have an incredible job that I love, that's very well paid. I’m not a carer travelling miles, paying their own transport to go and help somebody for minimum wage. I’m somebody that is very well paid and so I just feel a shame that I couldn’t make it work.”