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A Spanish court has acquitted singer Shakira in a tax fraud case, ordering the government to return over $87 million Cdn in wrongly imposed fines and interest, according to a court document.
The decision follows years of tax troubles in Spain for the Colombian superstar.
The ruling relates to a dispute over the 2011 tax year in which Spanish tax authorities did not prove that she was a resident of Spain, the Madrid-based court said in its decision.
For a person to be considered a tax resident in Spain, that individual must spend more than 183 days in the country.
Spanish authorities were only able to prove that Shakira lived in Spain that year for a total of 163 days, said the court, which ordered the Treasury to reimburse the singer the tax paid plus interest.
“There was never any fraud and the Tax Agency itself was never able to prove otherwise, simply because it wasn’t true,” Shakira said in a statement provided by her lawyers.
Spain’s Treasury is to reimburse the singer $95 million Cdn, including interest, her lawyer said.
“This resolution comes after an eight-year ordeal that has taken an unacceptable toll, reflecting a lack of rigour in administrative practices,” her lawyer, José Luís Prada, said in a statement.
Over the past decade or so, Spain’s tax authorities have cracked down on soccer stars like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for not paying their full due in taxes.
Those players were found guilty of tax evasion, but avoided prison time thanks to a provision that allows a judge to waive sentences under two years in length for first-time offenders.
