HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) launches a tax investigation into Manchester City in 2018, according to multiple reports. The probe focuses on whether the English football club underpaid taxes, and it is linked to internal communications that later emerge through leaked emails.
The outlets attribute the timing of HMRC’s action to the publication of leaked email material by Der Spiegel in late 2018, which then draws further scrutiny. Other reporting adds that HMRC examines complex commercial arrangements involving the club. The investigations described in 2018 come long before Manchester City is later found to have breached Premier League financial rules, which some accounts note occurred nearly a decade after the tax probe began.
While the sources differ in emphasis—some focus on the emails that prompted attention and others on the alleged nature of the commercial deals—they broadly agree on the key point that HMRC’s investigation into Manchester City’s tax affairs starts in 2018.
