Shakira's Tax Battle Ends After 8 Years and €55 Million — Spain Ordered to Refund the Singer

Spain's National High Court has acquitted Colombian pop star Shakira of tax fraud and ordered the country's Treasury to return more than €55 million ($64 million/£48 million) in wrongly imposed fines, ending an eight-year battle over her 2011 residency status.

The ruling, contained in a court document obtained on 18 May by Billboard, found that tax officials failed to prove Shakira spent the minimum 183 days in Spain required to classify her as a tax resident. Under Spanish law, anyone who spends fewer than 183 days in the country during a calendar year is not liable for personal income tax there.

Judges determined she was present for 163 days that year. Twenty days short of the legal threshold.

With interest and legal costs factored in, the total reimbursement rises to approximately €60 million ($70 million/£55 million), according to her lawyer José Luis Prada. He described the process as an 'eight-year ordeal' that reflected 'a lack of rigour in administrative practices.'

'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.

The breakdown of the original claim totalled €55,034,906 ($64 million/£48 million). That figure comprised approximately €24.7 million in personal income tax, a €24.9 million penalty, €2.68 million in wealth tax and an additional €2.7 million penalty. Tax authorities had classified the infractions as 'very serious'.

Why Spain's Tax Agency Targeted Shakira's 2011 Income

The dispute centred on whether Shakira owed taxes in Spain on income earned during her 2011 world tour, which took her to 37 countries across 120 concerts. Spain's tax agency argued that her relationship with then-Barcelona footballer Gerard Piqué tied her to the country and that her primary economic activities were based there. The couple began dating in 2010 after meeting during the filming of her Waka Waka World Cup anthem in South Africa.

The High Court rejected both claims. It ruled that a romantic relationship could not be legally equated to a marital one and found no evidence that the main centre of Shakira's activities or economic interests in 2011 were located in Spain. She was neither married nor had children residing in the country at the time. The court also dismissed allegations that Shakira used sham corporate structures to conceal income, finding that her business entities were legitimate.

Spain's tax agency has confirmed it plans to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. No payment will be made until a final ruling is reached, the BBC noted.

Shakira's Broader Tax History With Spain

This was not Shakira's only encounter with Spanish tax authorities. In November 2023, she struck a deal with prosecutors to avoid trial over separate charges that she failed to pay €14.5 million ($15.8 million/£12.5 million) in income tax between 2012 and 2014. She acknowledged six counts of tax evasion, received a suspended three-year sentence and paid a fine of €7.3 million ($8 million/£6.3 million) on top of the previously unpaid taxes and interest, according to the Associated Press.

Prosecutors also charged her in September 2023 with failing to pay €6.7 million ($7.3 million/£5.8 million) in tax on her 2018 income, alleging she used an offshore company to avoid the obligation. She settled that matter separately.

Shakira was named in the 2017 Paradise Papers leak, which detailed the offshore tax arrangements of high-profile individuals, including Madonna and U2's Bono. Spain's aggressive pursuit of celebrity tax cases has extended well beyond the singer. Footballers Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were both found guilty of tax evasion in Spain but avoided prison under a provision that suspends sentences of less than two years for first-time offenders.

Shakira dedicated the ruling to '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.'

The acquittal lands at a prominent moment for the singer, who performed for an estimated 2.5 million people on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro earlier in May and is set to appear alongside Madonna and BTS at the halftime show of the 2026 FIFA World Cup final.