Singer Shakira has achieved an important legal victory against the Spanish Tax Agency after more than eight years of legal battle. The National Court has ruled in favor of the artist and has ordered the return of 60 million euros, in addition to the generated interest and the costs of the procedure. This closes one of the most high-profile tax cases of recent years.
The ruling represents full support for the position the Colombian artist defended from the beginning of the conflict: that she never committed tax fraud. After the sentence was announced, Shakira broke her silence and denounced the personal and media impact she suffered for almost a decade.
“After more than eight years enduring brutal public exposure, orchestrated campaigns to destroy my reputation, and sleepless nights that ended up affecting my health and my family’s well-being, the National Court has finally put things right. There was never any fraud and the Administration itself could never prove otherwise, simply because it was not true,” the singer said in her first statements, according to ¡Hola! magazine.
The Colombian also strongly criticized the way, according to her, the judicial and media process was conducted. “However, for almost 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 other taxpayers,” she states.
The artist maintains that the ruling could become an important precedent for other citizens involved in similar disputes with the Administration. “My greatest wish is that this resolution sets a precedent for the Tax Agency 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,” she concludes.
“There was never any fraud and the Administration itself could never prove otherwise, simply because it was not true”
One of the central points of the ruling revolves around the singer’s tax residence in Spain. The National Court dismantles the main argument used by the Tax Agency by considering that it was not proven that Shakira stayed in Spanish territory for more than 183 days during the investigated fiscal year, an essential requirement to establish tax residence. According to the ruling, “such stay, as determined by the Administration itself, does not reach 183 days,” which is why the imposed sanctions were considered “contrary to law.”
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The case dates back to 2011, when the artist was going through an intense professional phase marked by an international tour with more than a hundred concerts spread across dozens of countries. During that period, the singer did not yet have a stable residence in Spain nor had she consolidated the main core of her economic or family activity in the country, aspects that have now been decisive in the judicial resolution.
Besides the legal impact, the decision has significant economic repercussions. The Tax Agency must return to the artist the 60 million euros withheld for years, as well as assume the interest and legal costs arising from the process. The cost condemnation against the Tax Agency has been interpreted by Shakira’s defense as a particularly significant fact, uncommon in this type of proceedings.
The singer’s lawyer, José Luis Prada, has welcomed the ruling and harshly criticized the administrative action. “This resolution comes after an eight-year ordeal that has entailed an unacceptable cost and reflects a deeply flawed administrative practice,” he stated.
The lawyer also highlighted the artist’s determination to maintain her defense until the end. “Shakira had the strength and resources to take this to the end, but this modus operandi suffocates many ordinary taxpayers who do not have the means to defend themselves,” he said.
