Colombian singer and songwriter, Shakira, has been decidedly absent from the music circuit of late. While this is most likely to do with the fact that she's settling into her new role as a mother, (Shakira has two sons under the age of five with her partner Gerard Piqué) it could also be because she may be facing jail.
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The Latin sensation is being investigated by the Spanish tax authorities, who have put out a request for prosecutors to delve into her financial affairs over the four years between 2011 and 2014. They have alleged that Shakira could have evaded paying the correct amount of tax.
Spain's Tax Agency has claimed that Shakira was residing in Spain through 2011 to 2014, and subsequently should have been paying income tax on her worldwide earnings, not just those obtained in Spain. According to La Vanguardia, a Catalan daily newspaper, state prosecution chiefs will now have to make a ruling as to whether they agree with the Tax Agency. If they do decide that Shakira is guilty of tax evasion, formal legal proceedings will be launched against the singer.
However, inside sources who are close to Shakira told La Vanguardia that she was always vigilant about meeting her tax obligations, denying that she had made any conscious attempt to evade taxes.
However they added that the Laundry Service singer, who became a full tax resident in Spain in 2015, was willing to deal with the "economic consequences" of what she, and her friends and family believe to be a simple difference in "evaluation criteria".
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Shakira's tax advisors are apparently gearing up to insist that the singer was in Spain for less than 183 days during the four years in question. This would mean that she was not required to pay wealth tax on her worldwide assets, on top of her earnings in Spain.
The Colombian singer's name came up in last year's Paradise Papers Scandal, after it was revealed that she had transferred £30 million in musical rights to an offshore company in Malta.
Shakira's auditors,
PricewaterhouseCoopers, have confirmed the tax investigation.
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The musician, who shot to worldwide fame with her 2001 English language album, Laundry Service, is well known for her philanthropy. In 1997, Shakira founded the Pies Descalzos Foundation which builds schools for impoverished children around Columbia.
Her own personal fortune is reckoned to be around the $200 million mark (£176 million).
This is not the only high-profile tax scandal that Spain has seen in recent years. There have been several
court cases involving famous footballers accused of tax evasion. Just last May, the Argentinian professional footballer, Lionel Messi was awarded a 21-month jail term. However, Spanish law allows terms of under two years to be treated as a probationary period, as so Messi continues to play football.
In other news,
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