A Spanish court cleared Shakira in her yearslong tax fraud case after authorities failed to prove the singer was a resident of Spain.
The court ordered the Spanish government to return more than $64 million in wrongly imposed fines. The ruling relates to a dispute over the 2011 tax year in which Spanish authorities failed to prove that the singer was a resident of Spain, the Madrid-based court said in its decision. To be considered a taxable resident of Spain, Shakira would have had to 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, the court said.
The Treasury was ordered to reimburse the "Whenever, Wherever" singer the tax paid plus interest.
"After more than eight years of enduring brutal public targeting, orchestrated campaigns to destroy my reputation, and sleepless nights that ultimately impacted my health and my family’s well-being, the National High Court has finally set the record straight," Shakira said in a statement, according to Variety. "There was never any fraud, and the Administration itself could never prove otherwise, simply because it wasn’t true.
"Yet, for nearly a decade, I was treated as guilty. Every step of the process was leaked, distorted, and amplified, using my name and public image to send a threatening message to the rest of the taxpayers.
"Today, that narrative crumbles, and it does so with the full force of a court ruling. My greatest wish is that this ruling sets a precedent for the Treasury and serves the thousands of ordinary citizens who are abused and crushed every day by a system that presumes their guilt and forces them to prove their innocence at the cost of economic and emotional ruin. This victory is dedicated to them."
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The Spanish tax agency claimed Shakira had based her economic activities in the country while dating soccer star Gerard Piqué.
But the High Court ruled that the relationship could not be legally equated to a marital one, nor was it proven that "the main center or base" of Shakira's activities or economic interests in 2011 were directly or indirectly located in Spain.
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The decision follows years of tax troubles in Spain for the Colombian superstar. Shakira previously settled a separate tax fraud case with the government back in 2023. On the first day of trial, Shakira acknowledged she had failed to pay about $15.8 million in taxes between 2012 and 2014.
She was hit with an $8 million fine in addition to the previously unpaid taxes and interest.
The government then accused Shakira of failing to pay around $7.2 million in taxes on her 2018 income. The Spanish government claimed she had used an offshore company to evade paying the money, but the charges were dropped in May 2024.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
