Spanish court orders tax agency to refund Shakira €55 million

Author, Paul Glynn

Role, Culture reporter

Published 3 minutes ago

Reading time: 3 minutes

A Spanish court has ordered the tax agency to refund €55 million ($64 million) to the singer Shakira, after ruling that the taxes the singer paid came illegally in a dispute over her taxes.

The National High Court acquitted the Colombian singer of tax evasion charges and ordered the Ministry of Finance to return the amount with interest.

The court said the tax agency had not proven that Shakira spent 183 days in Spain in 2011, the minimum required for residents to pay income tax on work in Spain.

Shakira said the court had "finally set things right" after spending eight years "enduring brutal public targeting, orchestrated campaigns to tarnish my reputation, and sleepless nights that negatively affected my health and my family's happiness."

The 49-year-old star, known for her hit songs like "Hips Don't Lie" and "Wherever, Whenever," added: "There was no fraud, and the administration itself could not prove otherwise, simply because it was not true."

She continued that despite the lack of proof, for nearly a decade, "I was treated as guilty. Every step of the litigation was leaked, distorted, and amplified, exploiting my name and reputation to send a threatening message to the rest of the taxpayers."

She added: "Today, that narrative collapses, and it collapses powerfully with a court ruling."

The amount owed includes about €24 million in income tax and about €25 million in fines for what authorities described as a "very serious" violation.

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The tax agency announced that it would appeal the ruling before the Supreme Court, and that no amount would be paid to Shakira until a final judgment is issued.

Shakira lived with former Barcelona and Spain footballer Gerard Piqué for more than 10 years, after they met in 2010 during the filming of her song "Waka Waka," the official song for the World Cup in South Africa.

The Supreme Court said the fines were illegal because they were based on the assumption that Spain was her tax residence for the 2011 fiscal year, "which was not proven."

The court clarified that the singer spent 163 days in Spain during that fiscal year, which is 20 days less than the minimum required to classify her as a tax resident.

This case does not include the tax years subsequent to 2011.

This case was one of several filed by the Spanish tax authorities against Shakira.

In 2023, Shakira reached an agreement with Spanish prosecutors to settle a separate tax evasion case for the years 2012-2014, just before legal proceedings began.

Under this agreement, Shakira, who denied any wrongdoing, accepted six charges and paid a fine of €7.5 million.

Prosecutors had sought an eight-year prison sentence and a fine of €23.8 million if convicted. She said she settled the case "out of concern for her children's welfare."

In 2024, reports indicated that a Spanish court dropped an investigation into her tax payments for 2018 due to "lack of evidence."