Despite historic achievements in 2025, Rory McIlroy is absent from the New Year’s Honours List due to a HMRC tax investigation.
Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy, alongside Tommy Fleetwood and Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, was considered a favorite for knighthood by King Charles III. However, all three golfers were omitted this year. In 2025, McIlroy completed a career Grand Slam with a Masters win, becoming the first European ever to do so. He also shone at the 2025 Ryder Cup, helping Team Europe to their first away victory since 2012 at Bethpage State Park near New York City.
Nevertheless, McIlroy’s name was not among the 1,157 honorees on the New Year’s Honours List, which undergoes review by the Cabinet Office and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) before being submitted to the Prime Minister and the monarch. According to a report by the British Telegraph, HMRC intervened similarly as it did years ago with footballer David Beckham, who also had to wait several years for his knighthood.
Did Rory McIlroy Deliberately Avoid Tax Payments?
Recently named BBC Sports Personality of the Year, McIlroy was reportedly involved in urban renewal projects in Liverpool, Birmingham, and Sheffield in 2013 that qualified as legal tax relief and were initially recognized as such by authorities. Later, HMRC classified these projects as tax avoidance and is currently investigating whether they exploited the “Business Premises Renovation Allowance” program to deliberately evade tax payments. So far, there is no evidence McIlroy intended to avoid taxes.
Since HMRC plays a decisive role in knighthood approvals, such suspicions or ongoing investigations can lead to denial. Neither McIlroy nor the British government has commented on the matter so far.