Harry Potter Star Loses a Big Tax Fight

Rupert Grint, aka Ron Weasley, owes the UK $2.3M
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 1, 2024 6:30 AM CDT
Updated Dec 1, 2024 6:30 AM CST
Harry Potter Star Loses a Big Tax Fight
Rupert Grint poses for photographers upon arrival at the special screening of the film 'Knock at the Cabin' in London on Jan. 25, 2023.   (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP, File)

Former Harry Potter film actor Rupert Grint faces a 1.8 million-pound ($2.3 million) bill after he lost a legal battle with the tax authorities, per the AP. Grint, who played Ron Weasley in the magical film franchise, was ordered to pay the money in 2019 after HM Revenue and Customs, the UK tax agency, investigated his tax return from seven years earlier. The agency said Grint had wrongly classed 4.5 million pounds ($5.7 million) in residuals from the movies—money from DVD sales, TV syndication, streaming rights, and other sources—as a capital asset rather than income, which is subject to a much higher tax rate.

Lawyers for Grint appealed, but after years of wrangling, a tribunal judge ruled against the actor this week. Judge Harriet Morgan said the money "derived substantially the whole of its value from the activities of Mr. Grint" and "is taxable as income." Grint, 36, starred in all eight Harry Potter films between 2001 and 2011 as the boy wizard's best friend, and is calculated to have earned around 24 million pounds ($30.5 million) from the role. He previously lost a separate court battle over a 1 million pound ($1.3 million) tax refund in 2019.

(More Rupert Grint stories.)

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