The High Court has also ordered the tax authorities to pay the singer 5.5 million euros in compensation.
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The High Court in Madrid, Spain, has ruled in favor of Colombian singer Shakira in a tax fraud case brought by Spanish tax authorities. The high court also ordered the tax authorities to pay the singer 5.5 million euros (about 4.8 million pounds) in compensation. The tax authorities said they would appeal to the Supreme Court and would not pay the singer any money until a final decision is made.
In a statement issued on Monday, the court said the court had accepted Shakira's appeal in the 2011 tax case. Five years ago, Shakira appealed after Madrid's tax authorities imposed a fine on her in 2011, claiming that she had evaded taxes required in Spain. The Colombian singer was living in Madrid, Spain, in 2011 after having a relationship with football player Gerard Pique. But the court said the tax authorities could not prove that Shakira had resided in Spain for more than 183 days. There is a rule in Spain that does not require her to pay personal income tax if she has been in the country for less than six months. The court said the singer could not be forced to pay personal income tax because she only spent 163 days in Spain that year.
The court also ordered the tax office to refund the fine, interest and legal costs imposed on Shakira. However, the ruling can be appealed to the Supreme Court. It only relates to the 2011 case. Shakira reached a settlement with prosecutors in November 2023 in the 2012-2014 tax case. She admitted to paying 1.45 million euros in taxes and paid a 50 percent fine, or more than 7.3 million euros. She avoided a three-year prison sentence by paying an additional 438,000 euros.
A statement issued by Shakira's lawyer after the ruling said, "The court has accepted that there was no fraud in 2011." Shakira, in turn, said in a statement that she had suffered excessive public humiliation for more than eight years, which had damaged her public reputation, as well as her personal health and family environment due to insomnia. "Finally, the court has done justice," Shakira said. The ruling has reignited a tax dispute between Spain's tax authorities and celebrities.
Shakira was embroiled in controversy in November 2017 after her name was revealed in the "Paradise Papers." That same year, Spanish authorities announced an investigation into Shakira's tax payments. Prosecutors allege she failed to pay taxes in Spain between 2012 and 2014. In July 2021, a Spanish judge said there was "sufficient criminal evidence" to prosecute the singer for tax fraud.
