The affairs between the Spanish tax authorities and Shakira are quite a story. To fully understand the trial between the singer and the country’s Public Treasury, we must go back to 2010. This year, Shakira met the football player Gérard Piqué on the set of the music video Car Parkinganthem of the 2010 World Cup. Between the defender of FC Barcelona and the singer, it was love at first sight and the two lovebirds formalized their relationship in 2011, which will end in 2022 after a highly publicized separation. This is where the Spanish tax authorities intervene. Indeed, the Spanish administration estimates that in 2011, Shakira became a tax resident… and must therefore pay taxes in Spain.
What is going on between Shakira and the Spanish administration?
However, to be considered as such, you must spend more than 183 days in the territory. In a letter dated April 15, and revealed this Monday, May 18 by AFP, the Spanish courts ruled in favor of the popstar: “The administration did not demonstrate that the complainant had stayed in Spain […] for more than 183 days.â€
The sum amounts to 55 million euros and includes income tax (more than 24 million), the fine imposed at the time for the offense (amounting to almost 25 million euros), the wealth tax for 2011 (2.6 million) and the fine linked to it (2.7 million), in addition to interest.
So this is a big victory for Shakira. The one who blew it up with her tour in 2025 claimed to have settled permanently in Barcelona at the end of 2014, before transferring her tax residence from the Bahamas to Spain in 2015. This decision does not, however, cancel the previous procedures already settled over the last two years concerning the fiscal years of 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2018.
A case which even inspired a series on Arte!
In 2023, she reached a last-minute agreement with the prosecution and was ordered to pay a fine of more than 7.3 million euros corresponding to “50 %†of the amount of the fraud, in addition to a regularization of 17.45 million paid to the tax authorities. She also paid 6.6 million euros for “irregularities” in her 2018 tax return.
On May 9, Shakira spoke out to denounce a “total public lynching†et a déclaré: “My greatest wish is that this judgment creates a precedent for the tax authorities and serves the thousands of anonymous people who, every day, are abused and crushed by a system where they are presumed guilty and which forces them to prove their innocence.†This affair also inspired a series, broadcast on until in 2026: Celeste. If you want to see things more clearly, we strongly encourage you to take a look!
