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

By Jack Guy, CNN

(CNN) — 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 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.

The Grammy-winning singer admitted the charges against her and agreed to pay the amount owed in full and an additional fine, according to a statement released by the Barcelona prosecutor’s office at the time.

She paid a total of €17.5 million ($20 million), an amount composed of the taxes owed plus interest, as well as a fine of €7.3 million ($8.5 million), the statement said.

Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of more than eight years in prison if Shakira were convicted on all six counts of tax fraud. But the settlement said that, instead of prison, she would pay additional fines of about $437 a day for a three-year sentence, or just over $470,000.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

Al Goodman and Claudia Rebaza contributed to this report.