This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Artist News Legal
Shakira investigated by Spanish tax authority, as she announces world tour
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 23 January 2018
Shakira announced that she would play her first UK show since 2010 yesterday, which, for a few hours, was Monday’s big Shakira news. Then tax authorities in Spain announced that they are investigating the musician for possible tax evasion.
According to La Vanguardia, the Colombian pop star, who is married to Barcelona football player Gerard Piqué, became a full resident, and therefore tax payer, of Spain in 2015.
However, the authorities reckon, she should also have been paying tax on her worldwide earnings between 2011 and 2014. They reckon that she was basically resident in the country then too, even though she had not declared herself as such. Anyone who spends more than six months of a year in Spain is considered liable for tax in the country.
Various sources argue that she has not, in fact, done anything wrong, adding that the pop star’s tax affairs were managed properly throughout. Either way, her case has been passed by the country’s tax authorities onto prosecutors, who will now decide whether or not to pursue any legal action against her.
It seems this is all the result of wider scrutiny into the earnings of footballers by the Spanish government, which has seen several players prosecuted in recent years. Last year, Piqué’s teammate Lionel Messi was sentenced to 21 months in prison, although a quirk of the Spanish legal system has meant he’s never actually been locked up.
With Shakira planning to head out on a world tour this year – including her 11 Jun show at the O2 Arena in London – a prison sentence would not be ideal. Though a prison sentence that never actually involves any jail time would be less of a hassle.
