What’s Going On With Shakira’s Tax Trial?

Shakira blowing a kiss

If convicted, she could spend up to eight years in prison.

Colombian singing superstar Shakira is facing trial in Spain over tax evasion charges after refusing settlement terms offered by prosecutors. If convicted, she could face up to eight years in prison. 

“Shakira and her team consider that this case constitutes a total violation of her rights, since she has always shown impeccable behavior, as a person and taxpayer, and total willingness to resolve any disagreement from the beginning, even before the criminal proceeding.” a statement from her team reads. 

Shakira is alleged to have evaded 14.5 million euros ($17 million) in Spanish taxes. The prosecution also argues that she and her tax adviser used off-shore tax havens to disguise her income sources. According to USA Today, she testified in 2019 as part of an investigation and denied all wrongdoing.

The case now going to trial hinges on where Shakira lived between 2012 and 2014. At the time, she listed The Bahamas as her residence for tax purposes, but in 2021, Judge Marco Jesús Juberías argued that the singer spent over 200 days in Spain during that period, making her liable to pay taxes there. According to local media, Shakira shared a home near Barcelona with her ex, FC Barcelona football defender Gerard Piqué.

After a three-year probe, Judge Juberías said he’d found “sufficient evidence of criminality” for the case to go to trial. Shakira and her team have spent a year negotiating with prosecutors but failed to come to an agreement, so she’s set to protest her innocence at trial.