SHAKIRA ACCUSES SPANISH TAX AUTHORITIES OF SMEAR CAMPAIGN IN $14M TAX FRAUD CASE, PLUS MORE NEWS

Shakira slams Spanish Treasury officials in tax fraud response
Shakira hit back at the Spanish Treasury on Friday (Nov. 25), filing a response to the government’s claims she owes more than $14 million in taxes for the years 2012 through 2014. The singer maintains she was not a resident of Spain during those years, nor did she spend enough time in the country during that period to warrant paying Spanish income taxes, the Daily Mail reported Friday. Spanish law requires anyone who spends 183 days or more in the country in a single year to pay income taxes there and the treasury claims Shakira was in Spain for 242 days in 2012, 212 days in 2013 and 243 days in 2014. In her response to the six tax fraud charges she now faces, Shakira’s attorneys also accused the Spanish Treasury of using “unacceptable methods to damage her reputation and force her to come to a settlement agreement,” including an alleged breach of confidentiality on the part of treasury reps that allowed a “contrived story” about her presence in Spain to be created. Shakira also notes in the documents that she paid $10,141,075 in taxes to the U.S. government from 2012 through 2014, as she was working as a coach on “The Voice.” She also maintains she’s forked over more than $90 million in taxes to Spain already through the years. If convicted, she could face eight years behind bars and a $24 million fine, according to the Daily Mail. Shakira formally declared herself a tax resident of Spain in 2015.