The “Hips Do not Lie” singer reached a settlement in 2023 to keep away from a trial in Barcelona over alleged tax fraud.
“The Spanish state stored greater than all my earnings for these years,” she wrote in her letter to El Mundo.
“It could appear incomprehensible, however for me, the Spanish decade was a misplaced decade financially, and never as a result of I labored little, as everybody is aware of,” she added.
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Shakira settled with prosecutors on the opening day of her trial in Barcelona in November 2023 over fees she had defrauded tax authorities of €14.5 million ($16 million) earned between 2012 and 2014.
As a part of the deal, she accepted the fees in change for paying a tremendous of practically €7.8 million to keep away from serving time in jail.
On the time she defined she had settled “with the most effective curiosity of my youngsters at coronary heart”. She wanted “to maneuver previous the stress and emotional toll of the final a number of years” and give attention to her profession, she mentioned.
In Might 2024 a Spanish court docket mentioned it had shelved a second probe into alleged tax fraud by Shakira regarding her 2018 earnings tax return, ending her authorized issues in Spain.
Shakira now lives in Miami along with her two sons after splitting from star footballer Gerard Piqué, who on the time performed for Barcelona.
A public ‘burning’
In her letter to El Mundo, she accused Spain’s tax workplace of being extra desirous about “burning her in public” than listening to her arguments.
“You do not resolve issues by burning individuals on the stake like in an Inquisition trial,” the 47-year-old added.
As she had argued to the court docket, the singer as soon as once more denied that she lived in Spain for greater than 183 days a 12 months between 2012 and 2014, the edge above which an individual is taken into account a taxable resident.
Spain’s tax workplace went by way of her social media posts to assemble proof that she had in actual fact been in Spain for over 183 days per 12 months. Its attorneys summoned dozens of witnesses, together with her hairdresser and neighbours to again their case.
Spain has in recent times cracked down on celebrities reminiscent of Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, for unpaid taxes.
Each gamers have been convicted of evasion and acquired jail sentences that have been waived for first-time offenders.