A Spanish court has ordered the country's tax authority to refund approximately £48 million to singer Shakira after ruling that the money was collected without sufficient legal basis. The national high court acquitted the Colombian pop star of tax fraud and directed the Treasury to return the funds along with interest.
According to the BBC, the court found that tax authorities had failed to prove Shakira spent 183 days in Spain during 2011, which is the minimum number of days required for a person to be classed as a tax resident and liable to pay personal income tax there. The court determined she spent 163 days in the country that year, which is 20 days short of the legal threshold.
Shakira said the ruling had "finally set the record straight" after eight years of what she described as a difficult legal and personal ordeal. "There was never any fraud and the Administration itself could never prove otherwise simply because it wasn't true," she said. She added that for nearly a decade she was "treated as guilty" and that details of her case were repeatedly leaked and distorted.
She dedicated the outcome to thousands of ordinary citizens who face similar battles at the cost of their financial stability and mental wellbeing.
The refund covers around £21 million in income tax and approximately £22 million in fines that authorities had described as a response to a "very serious" infringement. Spain's tax agency said it would appeal to the Supreme Court and that no payment would be made until a final ruling is issued.
This case covers only the 2011 tax year and does not relate to later periods. Shakira reached a separate settlement in 2018 to resolve a broader fraud case covering other years.
The ruling arrives at a busy moment for the singer. She is preparing to close her Women Don't Cry Anymore world tour with a residency in Madrid in September. She is also set to perform alongside Madonna and BTS at the half-time show of this summer's Fifa Men's World Cup final. Earlier this month two million people attended a free Shakira concert on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.
