Shakira Reportedly Facing Charges for Tax Fraud

A year-long investigation has led to the Spanish government claiming that Shakira will face criminal tax fraud charges, Spanish newspaper El Pais reports. The 41-year-old Colombian singer was the subject of a probe that looked into whether she lived in Spain between 2011 and 2014 or not. Spanish law stipulates that if she spent a minimum of 183 days in Spain, she is to be considered a fiscal resident of the country and must pay taxes on her global income.

According to the report, if she spent less time in the country, she would only be required to pay the taxes on the money that she made while working within the country. The year-long investigation came to the conclusion that she owes upwards of 14.5 million euros to the government. Shakira filed her taxes for those years as if she spent most of her time in the Bahamas, as opposed to living with her partner Gerard Pique in Barcelona.

The couple lived together from 2011 onwards, and Shakira even gave birth to her first son in a Barcelona hospital in 2013. Shakira’s defense team said that she wasn’t in the country for most of the time during those years, with the majority of her income coming from her work abroad. She says she never attempted to hide her income, allegedly calling it a matter of “a difference in criteria.”

“Shakira has at all times fulfilled her tax obligations and owes no money to the Spanish Treasury,” a statement from Shakira’s team reads. “As soon as she was made aware of the amount that according to the Tax Agency she owed, as a gesture of good faith, she made the payment in full, and, therefore, there are currently no monies owed.” 

It’s worth noting that Shakira’s name appeared in the “Paradise Papers” back in 2017, which detailed which celebrities and politicians had offshore financial dealings to avoid tax. Earlier this year, Shakira paid 20 million euros to the Spanish government in back taxes.