Spain’s National Audience court in Madrid has ordered the country’s main tax authority to return €55 million ($64 million) to pop star Shakira, ruling that the sum was improperly collected in a dispute over her 2011 taxes. The judgment, reached in mid-April, was made public this week.
The ruling followed an appeal by the Colombian singer, who has long maintained she was not a full tax resident of Spain in 2011. Her legal team pointed out that she and her then-partner, footballer Gerard Piqué, did not buy a home in Spain until 2012 and that her heavy touring schedule made it impossible for her to have spent the 183 days in Spain required for tax residency that year. The court accepted that argument and ordered repayment of the funds that were taken in 2021.
“This decision comes after an eight-year ordeal that has taken an unacceptable toll, reflecting a lack of rigor in administrative practice,” lawyer José Luis Prada said in a statement. Shakira added that she hoped the ruling would set a precedent to help “thousands of ordinary citizens who are abused and crushed every day by a system that presumes them guilty and forces them to prove their innocence while facing financial and emotional ruin.”
The ruling does not affect a separate case from 2012–2014. In 2023 Shakira reached a settlement with prosecutors over alleged tax evasion for those years: she accepted charges to avoid a trial and agreed to pay €7.3 million, saying the decision was made to spare her family further legal proceedings.
Piqué has also faced major tax investigations in Spain but was cleared by the Supreme Court in 2021.
Edited by: Rob Turner