Despite historic achievements in 2025, Rory McIlroy is absent from the New Year’s Honours List due to an HMRC tax review.
Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy was considered a top candidate for knighthood by King Charles III alongside Tommy Fleetwood and Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, also from England. However, none of the three golfers were honored this year. In 2025, McIlroy completed his career Grand Slam by winning the Masters, becoming the first European to do so. He also shone at the 2025 Ryder Cup, helping Team Europe to its first away victory since 2012 at Bethpage State Park near New York City.
Despite these achievements, McIlroy’s name did not appear among the 1,157 awardees on the New Year’s Honours List, which is initially reviewed by the Cabinet Office and then by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). According to a report by the British Telegraph, the HMRC’s intervention is believed to have blocked the honor, similar to the case of footballer David Beckham, who had to wait years before his knighthood.
Did Rory McIlroy Intentionally Avoid Taxes?
McIlroy, recently named BBC Sports Personality of the Year, was reportedly involved in urban renewal projects in Liverpool, Birmingham, and Sheffield in 2013. These projects were legally considered tax reliefs and initially recognized as such by the authorities. However, HMRC later classified them as tax avoidance and is investigating whether the projects exploited the “Business Premises Renovation Allowance” to deliberately circumvent tax payments. Currently, there is no evidence that McIlroy intended to avoid taxes.
Since HMRC has a say in knighthood decisions, such a tax investigation can result in rejection of the honor. Neither McIlroy nor the British government has commented on this matter so far.