One Direction hit with whopping $49 million tax bill

One Direction pictured together in 2013 before splitting up. Photo / Getty Images

One Direction have reportedly been handed a £24.7million (NZ $49 million) tax bill two years after they went on hiatus.

According to The Sun, the British and Irish group have appealed the bill, which is said to be one of the biggest debts in pop history.

In 2016, the publication reported that the group, made up of Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne, were facing an investigation by HM Revenue & Customs over a controversial "alphabeat scheme".

A source said: "Their firm decided to use an alphabet scheme for the hundreds of millions of pounds they earned. It means shares are grouped into categories — such as A to J — and allows profits to be paid in the form of dividends at different rates.

"However, while legal, HMRC inspectors have since decided to crack down and target them as potential measures of avoiding tax.

"Because dividends are not subject to National Insurance contributions like wages, they have less tax deducted from them than is taken off salaries. It means One Direction could now be set to pay back a huge sum to the taxman."

The four-piece made a whopping $124 million before tax, while their company made profits of $60.7 million.

MailOnline have contacted a representative for One Direction.

However, the foursome resigned as directors of 1D Media in April 2016 and cashed in 10 of their firm's shares each to make a tasty $27 million each.

Although they have received the bill, there is no suggestion they nor former band member Zayn Malik have engaged in tax evasion, which is illegal.