Spanish court orders tax authority to repay Shakira $64 million over wrongful fines

Spain’s tax authority has been ordered to repay Colombian superstar Shakira more than 55 million euros ($64 million) after a court in Madrid ruled that it had mistakenly pursued her for unpaid taxes.

Tax officials imposed massive fines on the singer in 2021 after concluding that she had spent more than 183 days in Spain in 2011, and was therefore liable to pay personal income tax, according to a statement from the Audiencia Nacional high court published Monday.

However, Shakira was only in Spain for 163 days, meaning she wasn’t a resident of the country for tax purposes, the court added.

Shakira (center) is pictured leaving a court in Barcelona after attending her tax fraud trial for the period 2012-2014 in November 2023.

Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images

Shakira and her representatives hailed a “decisive and historic ruling” in a statement Monday.

“After more than eight years of enduring brutal public targeting, orchestrated campaigns to destroy my reputation, and sleepless nights that ultimately impacted my health and my family’s well-being, the National High Court has finally set the record straight,” the singer said.

“Every step of the process was leaked, distorted, and amplified, using my name and public image to send a threatening message to the rest of the taxpayers. Today, that narrative crumbles, and it does so with the full force of a court ruling,” she added.

The Audiencia Nacional emphasized that its ruling refers only to taxes due in 2011.

In 2023, Shakira settled a separate tax evasion suit related to the period 2012-2014.