A Spanish court has ruled in favor of Colombian singer Shakira by annulling a tax penalty for the 2011 tax year and ordered the tax authorities to repay her some 60 million euros ($70 million).
The Audiencia Nacional upheld the artist’s appeal against a previous resolution of the Tax Agency and the Central Economic-Administrative Court, and annulled the assessments and penalties applied with respect to income and wealth taxes for that year.
According to the ruling, against which there is still room for appeal, the Spanish administration has not accredited that he stayed in the country for more than 183 days in 2011 to prove that he was a resident for tax purposes, as required by law for Personal Income Tax (IRPF) purposes.
The case, settled administratively, is limited to an amount of just over 55 million euros (64 million dollars) claimed from the singer. However, her team calculates the amount to be returned to her by the Tax Authorities at more than 60 million euros when adding interest and the payment of legal costs.
According to a statement sent by the communication agency Llorente y Cuenca, which represents Shakira, this is the last outstanding account that the artist had in Spain after eight years of dispute.
For their part, sources from the Tax Agency recalled that Shakira already accepted in conformity the convictions for offenses against the Treasury for the years 2012-2014, and added that the sentence, known this Monday, will be appealed in the Supreme Court.
A few days ago, a Barcelona court filed the second criminal case that Shakira had open for an alleged fraud of 6.6 million euros ($7.7 million) in 2018, after the Prosecutor’s Office and the other accusations so requested. And they referred the singer to the administrative channel so that she could catch up with her tax obligations.
In 2024, Shakira accepted a fine of €7.8 million ($9 million) by judicially acknowledging that she defrauded the tax authorities of €14.5 million ($17 million) between 2012 and 2014, thanks to a plea bargain. This spared him a long judicial process that could have ended with a prison sentence.
Shakira bills millions in tax case; What about Piqué?
In this case, relating to 2011, the Tax Agency acted against Shakira because it considered that she had not paid income tax and wealth tax by claiming that she lived outside the country when, according to the Treasury, she was a tax resident in Spain and, therefore, she was obliged to do so.
Where the Colombian singer lived that year has been the main object of analysis of the National Court to conclude that “it has not been accredited” that Shakira had the tax domicile in Spain then.
Therefore, “it is obvious that the liquidations” and consequent penalties imposed for this “are contrary to law”.
More specifically, the court understands that the artist’s stay in Spain was 163 days, not more than 183 as required by law, and assures that the administration has not proven that she had the core of her economic interests in Spain or family relationships with residents in the country.
The administration had argued that Shakira was romantically involved with a Spanish resident (former soccer player Gerard Piqué).
But the court explains that there was no “conjugal bond” in 2011 (the two were never married), nor “minor children” residing in Spain. That is, “there was no nuclear family for legal purposes of a foreign person,” reported Agencia EFE.
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