diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index df59b76d8d..6fa55769ff 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -212,13 +212,13 @@ allprojects {
       licenseHeaderFile("${rootDir}/gradle/spotless/java.former.date.license").named("older.year").onlyIfContentMatches("^/\\*\\r?\\n.* Copyright \\d{4} ConsenSys AG\\.")
       licenseHeaderFile("${rootDir}/gradle/spotless/java.current.license").named("current").onlyIfContentMatches("^(?!/\\*\\r?\\n \\*.*ConsenSys AG\\.)")
     }
+    // spotless check applied to build.gradle (groovy) files
     groovyGradle {
       target '*.gradle'
       greclipse('4.21').configFile(rootProject.file('gradle/formatter.properties'))
       endWithNewline()
     }
     // Below this line are currently only license header tasks
-    format 'groovy', { target '**/src/*/grovy/**/*.groovy' }
     format 'bash', { target '**/*.sh' }
     format 'sol', { target '**/*.sol' }
   }
@@ -884,27 +884,6 @@ task manifestDockerRelease {
 
 def sep = Pattern.quote(File.separator)
 
-task checkSpdxHeader(type: CheckSpdxHeader) {
-  apply plugin: 'groovy'
-
-  rootPath = "${projectDir}"
-  spdxHeader = "* SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0"
-  filesRegex = "(.*.java)|(.*.groovy)"
-  excludeRegex = [
-    "(.*${sep}generalstate${sep}GeneralStateRegressionReferenceTest.*)",
-    "(.*${sep}generalstate${sep}GeneralStateReferenceTest.*)",
-    "(.*${sep}generalstate${sep}LegacyGeneralStateReferenceTest.*)",
-    "(.*${sep}blockchain${sep}BlockchainReferenceTest.*)",
-    "(.*${sep}blockchain${sep}LegacyBlockchainReferenceTest.*)",
-    "(.*${sep}.gradle${sep}.*)",
-    "(.*${sep}.idea${sep}.*)",
-    "(.*${sep}out${sep}.*)",
-    "(.*${sep}bin${sep}.*)",
-    "(.*${sep}build${sep}.*)",
-    "(.*${sep}src${sep}[^${sep}]+${sep}generated${sep}.*)"
-  ].join("|")
-}
-
 jacocoTestReport {
   reports {
     xml.required = true
@@ -1047,7 +1026,6 @@ distributions {
   }
 }
 
-check.dependsOn checkSpdxHeader
 build.dependsOn verifyDistributions
 artifactoryPublish.dependsOn verifyDistributions
 artifactoryPublish.mustRunAfter(distTar)
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/CheckSpdxHeader.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/CheckSpdxHeader.groovy
deleted file mode 100644
index 27bcbe239a..0000000000
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/CheckSpdxHeader.groovy
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,84 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Copyright 2019 ConsenSys AG.
- *
- * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
- * the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
- *
- * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- *
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on
- * an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
- * specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
- *
- * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
- */
-
-
-
-import org.gradle.api.DefaultTask
-import org.gradle.api.tasks.Input
-import org.gradle.api.tasks.TaskAction
-import org.gradle.tooling.BuildException
-
-class CheckSpdxHeader extends DefaultTask {
-  private String rootPath
-  private String spdxHeader
-  private String filesRegex
-  private String excludeRegex
-
-  @Input
-  String getRootPath() {
-    return rootPath
-  }
-
-  void setRootPath(final String rootPath) {
-    this.rootPath = rootPath
-  }
-
-  @Input
-  String getSpdxHeader() {
-    return spdxHeader
-  }
-
-  void setSpdxHeader(final String spdxHeader) {
-    this.spdxHeader = spdxHeader
-  }
-
-  @Input
-  String getFilesRegex() {
-    return filesRegex
-  }
-
-  void setFilesRegex(final String filesRegex) {
-    this.filesRegex = filesRegex
-  }
-
-  @Input
-  String getExcludeRegex() {
-    return excludeRegex
-  }
-
-  void setExcludeRegex(final String excludeRegex) {
-    this.excludeRegex = excludeRegex
-  }
-
-  @TaskAction
-  void checkHeaders() {
-    def filesWithoutHeader = []
-    new File(rootPath).traverse(
-        type: groovy.io.FileType.FILES,
-        nameFilter: ~/${filesRegex}/,
-        excludeFilter: ~/${excludeRegex}/
-    ) {
-      f ->
-        if (!f.getText().contains(spdxHeader)) {
-          filesWithoutHeader.add(f)
-        }
-    }
-
-    if (!filesWithoutHeader.isEmpty()) {
-      throw new BuildException("Files without headers: " + filesWithoutHeader.join('\n'), null)
-    }
-  }
-
-}
\ No newline at end of file