David Beckham ‘is FINALLY in line for a knighthood after having his finances cleared’

David Beckham is finally in line for a knighthood after his finances were given the all clear, according to a new report.

The Sun claims that the former footballer, 46, has been formally nominated and moved to the official recommendations list for next June.

In 2014 Beckham was on the verge of becoming Sir David in the New Year’s Honours list until a ‘red flag’ warning from HM Revenue and Customs sunk his nomination.

Beckham’s involvement in an alleged tax avoidance scheme had scuppered his hopes.

The former footballer was one of dozens of wealthy celebrities who invested in the controversial Ingenious Media scheme to fund movies and reduce investors’ personal tax liability. HMRC labelled the scheme a tax avoidance vehicle.

But a source has now told the publication: ‘David, like many of the celebs embroiled with Ingenious, had no knowledge of what was going on at the time.

‘His team first proactively approached HMRC almost two years ago, when David made his business independent, and then finally got it all settled, once and for all, this year.

‘In 2013 David was told the only reason he was overlooked for a knighthood was because of the tax fiasco. Now it’s been cleared up, there is absolutely no reason for him not to be honoured.

‘He would obviously be utterly thrilled with a knighthood — but is under no illusions and will only believe it when he sees it.’

A representative for David has been contacted by MailOnline for comment.

The former Manchester United and England ace was widely expected to be knighted after his 20-year football career ended in May 2013.

He had also played a key role in the London 2012 Olympics.

A source close to the Honours Committee told the Mail in 2014: ‘There is no question about it, he did deserve one. It is well known that we do a sort of risk assessment on people, and we get it from HMRC. Beckham’s came back with a red flag.

‘There were attempts to sort it out, because everybody felt he merited a knighthood. There was not any other factor, just the tax.

‘We tried a few informal routes to sort something out. But ultimately we have a set of rules, and one is not to give it to people red-flagged and you can’t ignore that. On this tax thing, it’s about making sure people understand that issue and improve the position [of their taxes].

‘With Beckham, it could have been resolved – but I can see it is going to be much more awkward now.’

Anyone with financial irregularities is given a ‘red warning’ by the Inland Revenue and barred from honours recognition.

He has now reportedly been upgraded to ‘green’ after checks.

The husband of fashion designer Victoria, 47, is a father of four and has raised around £50million for charity, working with organisations like Unicef.

The decision to uplift the red warning was praised by the family of the late Captain Sir Moore, who highlighted the ‘kindness’ Beckham showed towards the war veteran.

As well as finally being cleared for tax avoidance, a report published by the Sunday Times in 2019 suggested David and Victoria were actually amongst the highest taxpayers in Britain.

They claimed the Inter Miami owner and the former Spice Girl paid £12.7m in tax over the course of a 12-month period.

Robert Watts, who compiles the Tax List and The Sunday Times Rich List, said at the time: ‘There has long been the suspicion that the former England captain’s involvement in investment schemes under attack by the taxman blew the whistle on Beckham’s knighthood.

‘Disclosure of how much tax they do pay may perhaps raise the prospect of us one day seeing Sir Golden Balls and Lady Posh.

‘These figures arguably make the case for the wealthy more effectively than many charitable foundations or other philanthropy these people do.

‘The Tax List also raises the question of how our country fills the gap if Brexit – or a more hostile political environment – encourages the super-rich to quit the UK for Monaco, Switzerland or other low-tax bolt holes.’

This came after it was alleged that David slammed Katherine Jenkins for receiving an OBE in a email to his PR manager, as he also lamented not receiving a knighthood in leaked emails published in 2017.

The Welsh songstress later told The Sun she was ‘disappointed’ to see the comments allegedly made by the former footballer despite his team vehemently denying all accusations.

Speaking about the shock comments David allegedly made towards her, Katherine admitted she has no reason to feel anything but proud of her achievements.

The opera star was awarded an OBE in 2014, for services to various charities and her journeying to war zones to entertain the troops.

The star then admitted she was yet to receive any form of apology from David regarding his comments.

A representative for David Beckham declined to comment to MailOnline at the time.

One email was alleged to have said: ‘Katherine Jenkins OBE for what? Singing at the rugby and going to see the troops plus taking coke. F****** joke.’

The hacked emails also suggested allegations surrounding his stance in the Scottish referendum and investing in loss-making companies to reduce his tax bill.

Beckham’s representatives dismissed the claims at the time, stating that the emails had been ‘hacked and doctored’ from a private account.

A spokesperson for David Beckham said: ‘This story is based on outdated material taken out of context from hacked and doctored private emails from a third party server and gives a deliberately inaccurate picture.’

Katherine and David had allegedly been at odds years earlier, when she took to Twitter in 2012 to deny she had had an affair with him, a decision which reportedly left the England star utterly furious.