Former Harry Potter star Rupert Grint has been ordered to pay £1.8m in tax after losing a legal battle with HM Revenue & Customs.

Grint, who played Ron Weasley in the films, was originally told to pay the sum in 2019 after an HMRC investigation disputed one of his tax returns.

Lawyers for the 36-year-old appealled, arguing that money he received from a company had been correctly taxed as a capital asset, but HMRC said it should have been taxed as income at a higher rate.

However, Grint’s argument has been dismissed by a tax tribunal judge.

During the 2011-2012 tax year, Grint received £4.5m from a company that managed his business, and of which he was the only shareholder.

This payment was described as being for “likely residual income and bonuses” resulting from the Harry Potter films.

He argued he could pay capital gains tax on it at a rate of 10% rather than income tax and national insurance at a top rate of 52%.

In the ruling, tribunal judge Harriet Morgan dismissed Grint’s appeal and said the money “derived substantially the whole of its value from the activities of Mr Grint”, which was “otherwise realised” as income.

He previously lost another, separate court case in 2019 that involved a £1m tax refund.

Grint appeared in all eight Harry Potter films from 2001 until 2011.

Since then, he has appeared in the films Into the White and Knock at the Cabin, and also appeared on TV and in theatre.

He has starred in Apple TV series Servant for the last four years.