Shakira Charged With Tax Evasion In Spain

Prosecutors in Spain are now claiming that Shakira, who lived in the Catalan capital between 2012 and 2014. failed to pay taxes on her worldwide income to Spain for those years.

In 2015, Shakira officially made Barcelona, Spain her place of residence. Previously, her firstborn son Milan was born in the city in 2013. Investigators are using this as more evidence that Spain should’ve have been her place of residency for those years. After a year-long investigation, prosecutors are officially charging the Colombian singer with tax evasion.

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Shakira’s lawyer said, “throughout her professional career and, in every case, has fully met the laws of all the jurisdictions where she has resided.”

E! News reports that the singer became a citizen after she “spent more than 183 days in Spain in a fiscal year.”‘ The singer’s legal team believes that the charges are just a scare tactic to decrease overall tax evasion in Spain.

A judge will soon decide if there is enough evidence to put the singer on trial. The Grammy award winner, who started the Bare Foot foundation for underprivileged children in 1997, is the latest star to face legal action over their tax affairs. The Spanish government has also gone after soccer stars, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, for tax evasion.

Messi and his father were found guilty of evading tax on the player’s image rights. Initially, they were given suspended 21-month sentences that were reduced to fines. Five months ago, Ronaldo sufferered a similar fate and pleaded guilty to tax fraud. He paid a fine of nearly €19m in exchange for a two-year suspended prison sentence. Shakira will likely pay a fine similar to the two if she is found guilty.

Shakira is best known for her hit songs “Hips don’t lie” and “La Tortura.”