Singer Shakira Charged with $7 Million Tax Evasion by Spanish Prosecutors

 

According to Barcelona prosecutors, Shakira is accused of using an offshore business headquartered in a tax haven to evade paying taxes.

The Colombian singer is the target of Spain's most recent tax claims, which accuse her of neglecting to pay 6.7 million euros ($7.1 million) in tax on her 2018 income, according to officials.

According to Barcelona prosecutors, Shakira is accused of using an offshore business headquartered in a tax haven to evade paying taxes.

According to the statement, she has been informed of the allegations in Miami, where she resides.

The singer is already scheduled to go on trial in Barcelona on November 20 in a different lawsuit that is predicated on where she resided from 2012 to 2014. 

Prosecutors claim she owes $15.4 million in taxes in that case, or 14.5 million euros.

Despite having her official abode in the Bahamas, Barcelona prosecutors claim that the Grammy winner spent more than half of the 2012–2014 year there and should have paid taxes there.

The most recent investigation against Shakira was initiated by Spanish tax authorities in July. The decision to file charges was made by the prosecution after analyzing the evidence gathered over the previous two months. A trial date was not established.

Llorente y Cuenca, Shakira's previous public relations agency, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In July, it said the artist had “always acted in concordance with the law and on the advice of her financial advisers.”

Since she began dating the now-retired soccer player Gerard Piqué, Shakira, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, has been associated with Spain. The two-parent family lived together in Barcelona for eleven years until calling it quits last year.

Soccer players like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been under fire from the Spanish tax authorities over the past few years for not paying their fair share of taxes. Despite being found guilty of tax evasion, those players were spared from doing time in prison because of a rule that permits judges to suspend first-time offenders' sentences of up to two years.