Newcastle hit with demand for £3.2m over ‘deliberate’ failure to pay tax on transfers

• Club owe HMRC £1.9m in tax and handed £1.25m penalty

• Relates to investigation of transfers under Mike Ashley

Newcastle United have been hit with a demand for £3.2m from HM Revenue and Customs over a “deliberate” failure to pay tax, according to official disclosures that relate to a near decade-long investigation into player transfers under the club’s former owner, Mike Ashley.

The Tyneside club, which has been owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund since 2021, owes HMRC £1.9m in tax and has also been hit with a penalty of £1.25m, the newly released documents show. The bill emerged as a result of the tax authority’s regular publication of a league table of “deliberate tax defaulters”, with Newcastle United featuring at the top of the most recent list, released on Thursday.