Spice Girls’ Emma Bunton Facing Tax Battle Over $4M She Made From ’90s Group’s Reunion Shows
July 23 2024, Published 10:08 p.m. ET
Emma Bunton, AKA Baby Spice, is embroiled in a high-stakes tax dispute with authorities in the United Kingdom over a hefty muilti-million dollar sum she earned from a Spice Girls gig, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The 1990's girl group raked in $78.2 million during their 2019 reunion tour, with concertgoers buying nearly 700,000 tickets to see the band perform across the UK and Ireland.
Bunton, 48, returned to the stage to perform fan favorites alongside Scary Spice Mel B, 49, Sporty Spice Melanie C, 50, and Ginger Spice Geri Halliwell, 51. The fifth member of the quintet, Posh Spice Victoria Beckham, 50, was notably absent from the event.
As the tour kicked off in Ireland on May 25, 2019, Bunton took to Instagram with a photo of herself onstage, writing: "Amazing first night, thank you Dublin".
She followed up a few days later with a shot of the flashy foursome on stage, writing in the caption: "Had the most amazing few nights in Manchester! #thankyou for being such a brilliant crowd!"
But HM Revenue and Customs put a dampener on the excitement after the blockbuster event wrapped up.
Believing she had settled her corporation tax dues from the comeback concerts with a payment of roughly $700,000, Bunton was later hit with an unexpected tax bill of around $200,000 — and The U.S. Sun reported this week the government was claiming she owed even more.
In 2021, the singer decided to liquidate her company, Monsta Touring Ltd, which she had created to manage her reunion earnings, according to the outlet. She reportedly got a payout of more than $3.3 million from the move.
Liquidators for the company said in a statement: “Our understanding was that all tax had already been paid. Since March 2023, we have been in correspondence with HMRC to resolve the position. This is ongoing.”
The same year she shut down Monsta Touring, the Spice Girl also quietly married her partner, former Damage singer-turned-chef Jade Jones. The couple had been engaged since 2011, and already had two children together: Tate, now 13, and Beau, now 16.
The last performance that featured all five original members of The Spice Girls was during the 2012 London Olympics. Before that, they reunited for the first time on their Return of the Spice Girls tour from 2007 to 2008.