Shakira Faces Second Tax Fraud Investigation

Singer Shakira is now under investigation for tax fraud once again, but she says she is not concerned at all. The “Hips Don’t Lie” artist was already going to trial for allegedly failing to pay $13.9 million in taxes to Spain while living there in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Authorities told NBC News that this new investigation relates to taxes from the 2018 fiscal year.

Shakira is originally from Colombia and now lives in Miami, Florida, but she lived in Barcelona, Spain for several years with her ex-partner Gerard Piqué and their two sons. Authorities in Barcelona now say they have found evidence that Shakira deliberately avoided paying huge sums in taxes during that time, but the singer says she is not guilty. A spokesperson for her told reporters that she followed expert legal advice and acted in accordance with the law.

Shakira is already expected to go to trial for the 2012-2014 tax case, though a date has not yet been set. The prosecutors accuse Shakira of failing to pay her income taxes for those years, while this new investigation may be more serious. In the 2018 case, investigators suspect that Shakira defrauded the Spanish Tax Agency out of her personal income taxes and assets.

When asked for a comment on this story on Thursday morning, a spokesperson for Shakira said that the singer “had not received any formal notification of the Prosecutor’s complaint” at that time. They said that she “will not make any comments until the notification reaches them through the official and legally established channels. She must be notified personally at her new address, in strict accordance with the provisions of the Law.”

“Shakira defends having always acted in accordance with the law and under the advice of the best tax experts. She is now focused on her life as an artist in Miami and is confident that there will be a favorable resolution of her tax issues,” they went on.

The case may come down to a question of where Shakira was living for most of the time in those years. Prosecutors need to make the case that she spent at least a total of 6 months in Barcelona; otherwise, she would not be obligated to pay those taxes. According to NBC News, the Spanish authorities have recently pursued similar cases against celebrities who spent the majority of their time in Spain – Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Neither were forced to go to prison, but they were found guilty of tax evasion.

Shakira spent lots of time in Spain starting in 2011 when she began dating Piqué, a Spanish soccer star. They had two sons together but broke up in June of 2022. The singer has since moved to Miami, which could make the legal proceedings a logistical challenge. So far, the courts in Barcelona have not set a date for Shakira’s trial to begin.