Is Shakira really going to go to prison for tax fraud? 8 years?

[Anonymous]

Wtf would she owe Spain anything? What a racket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wtf would she owe Spain anything? What a racket.

She owned a house there. That is probably part of their argument to prove she was a resident. Looks like she did spend a lot of time there in the early 2010s but then later - the time in question - she was a resident in another country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wtf would she owe Spain anything? What a racket.

She owned a house there. That is probably part of their argument to prove she was a resident. Looks like she did spend a lot of time there in the early 2010s but then later - the time in question - she was a resident in another country.

She owned a house there. She raised children there. She lived there with her significant other.

[Anonymous]

Don't mess with the tax man. When the government can't find evidence of the crime you have committed, they usually get you for tax evasion instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know we don't know these people. But she really doesn't seem like the kind of person who would try to avoid paying taxes.

Show me someone rich and I’ll show you someone who avoids paying their taxes.

🙋‍♀️

I think a lot of people with money want to do everything legally appropriate to make sure they are good with the government.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She is 45 years old.

Got a great buttocks for 45

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know the details but, some of the comments indicated that the Spanish government likes to extort celebrities for tax money.

If she owes then she needs to pay.

She already paid in full, plus all fines.

They went after Messi and Ronaldo too. Shakira doesn’t do her own taxes (I don’t even do my own taxes). She’s relying on a professional CPA to explain and complete her taxes. They should be going after whoever else that is.

The fact that they didn’t go so hard over Ronaldo and Messi (they paid, end of case) and are going nuclear over Shakira when she’s already paid whatever extra she would have owed, plus fines, is ridiculous and seems incredibly sexist.

[Anonymous]

There is no "Euro legal system." She's dealing with the Spanish legal system. The issue is whether she lied about her residency, and was living in Spain. Different countries have different laws about tax fraud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know the details but, some of the comments indicated that the Spanish government likes to extort celebrities for tax money.

If she owes then she needs to pay.

She already paid in full, plus all fines.

They went after Messi and Ronaldo too. Shakira doesn’t do her own taxes (I don’t even do my own taxes). She’s relying on a professional CPA to explain and complete her taxes. They should be going after whoever else that is.

The fact that they didn’t go so hard over Ronaldo and Messi (they paid, end of case) and are going nuclear over Shakira when she’s already paid whatever extra she would have owed, plus fines, is ridiculous and seems incredibly sexist.

That’s not how it works. You, the tax payer are always responsible regardless of if a CPA prepares your filing.

And yes, she claims she has paid what was owed. They are contesting that because they claim she was a resident during the period she says she wasn’t. That should be very easy for her team to prove.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know the details but, some of the comments indicated that the Spanish government likes to extort celebrities for tax money.

If she owes then she needs to pay.

She already paid in full, plus all fines.

They went after Messi and Ronaldo too. Shakira doesn’t do her own taxes (I don’t even do my own taxes). She’s relying on a professional CPA to explain and complete her taxes. They should be going after whoever else that is.

The fact that they didn’t go so hard over Ronaldo and Messi (they paid, end of case) and are going nuclear over Shakira when she’s already paid whatever extra she would have owed, plus fines, is ridiculous and seems incredibly sexist.

How is she being treated differently? Ronaldo and Messi both went to court and lost. Both received sentences that were then waived based on first offense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no "Euro legal system." She's dealing with the Spanish legal system. The issue is whether she lied about her residency, and was living in Spain. Different countries have different laws about tax fraud.

This. It's just like when New Yorkers claim to live in Florida for tax purposes and then get caught.

Except the Spanish government is a lot more powerful than Albany. Federal and U.S. state laws give a lot more privacy protections to the taxpayer. The Spanish government is essentially arguing that her actual residence was in Spain during those years she was raising her kids in Spain with Pique. The Spanish government will absolutely have access to her passport information and when she entered/left both Spain and the EU.

I call BS on her living in the Bahamas. It's just a tax shelter.

Further, she was a mega-star long before she met Pique. They probably did not marry because they already had their own tax and accounting systems in place to minimize their liabilities. Getting married would've been a very expensive proposition for both of them from a tax and accounting perspective. It's a lot more flexible for two ultra-HNW individuals to remain legally "single."

[Anonymous]

Shakira is a tax fraud. She'll most likely be found guilty and not do jail time if she ponies up the amount she owes . Her arrogance-driven insistence that she was a resident of the bahamas isn't helping matters, at all.Seriously, does she think the spanish tax authorities lack the capabilities to know whether or not she was a bona fide resident of the bahamas ? What a fraud .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile we have Donald Trump and Brett Farve who are literally stealing from kids with cancer and nothing happens to them. Not even a slap on the wrist

Kind of like how Martha Stewart got busted for insider trading and the people who tanked the economy didn’t get jack either.

Martha Stewart did go to jail, not for long, but still.

The people who tanked the economy was main street not wall street. It was the people with mortgages they lied to get or should not have had. That is on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Shakira is a tax fraud. She'll most likely be found guilty and not do jail time if she ponies up the amount she owes . Her arrogance-driven insistence that she was a resident of the bahamas isn't helping matters, at all.Seriously, does she think the spanish tax authorities lack the capabilities to know whether or not she was a bona fide resident of the bahamas ? What a fraud .

The Spanish government has a lot levers it can pull than a state government in tax residency dispute. They will have access to both Spanish and EU passport systems. Private jet flight manifests that must be submitted to Spanish and European authorities. Access to cell phone metadata to determine location on certain dates

It seems to be her assertion that she was traveling so much during those years that she did establish Spanish residency. But, per the article, is is very easy to qualify for residency under Spanish law:

Spanish domestic tax law uses three criteria to consider if a person is a resident of a Spanish territory: physical presence, the center of economic interests and the location of a spouse and children. In Shakira’s case, the determination of presence is key, said Adolfo Martín Jiménez, a professor of tax law at the University of Cádiz and an international taxation expert at Pérez-Llorca, a law firm in Madrid.

“Even if you are not present for that many days, a sporadic presence is regarded as presence,” Mr. Jiménez said, adding that “there’s a tendency in Spain, within the tax administration, to consider if a person is not able to prove they are resident in another country, then there’s a presumption that they are doing something strange.”

Like in the United States, Spain applies a worldwide nexus to income. Fines like the one the Spanish tax authorities are pursuing — 23 million euros — are based on income, Mr. Jiménez said.

Unlike many states in the U.S., the Spanish definition of residency is not clearly defined by an explicit number of days presence. She will very likely settle for the full amount if she wants access to her Spanish child or to ever visit/do business in the country again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Shakira is a tax fraud. She'll most likely be found guilty and not do jail time if she ponies up the amount she owes . Her arrogance-driven insistence that she was a resident of the bahamas isn't helping matters, at all.Seriously, does she think the spanish tax authorities lack the capabilities to know whether or not she was a bona fide resident of the bahamas ? What a fraud .

The Spanish government has a lot levers it can pull than a state government in tax residency dispute. They will have access to both Spanish and EU passport systems. Private jet flight manifests that must be submitted to Spanish and European authorities. Access to cell phone metadata to determine location on certain dates

It seems to be her assertion that she was traveling so much during those years that she did establish Spanish residency. But, per the article, is is very easy to qualify for residency under Spanish law:

Spanish domestic tax law uses three criteria to consider if a person is a resident of a Spanish territory: physical presence, the center of economic interests and the location of a spouse and children. In Shakira’s case, the determination of presence is key, said Adolfo Martín Jiménez, a professor of tax law at the University of Cádiz and an international taxation expert at Pérez-Llorca, a law firm in Madrid.

“Even if you are not present for that many days, a sporadic presence is regarded as presence,” Mr. Jiménez said, adding that “there’s a tendency in Spain, within the tax administration, to consider if a person is not able to prove they are resident in another country, then there’s a presumption that they are doing something strange.”

Like in the United States, Spain applies a worldwide nexus to income. Fines like the one the Spanish tax authorities are pursuing — 23 million euros — are based on income, Mr. Jiménez said.

Unlike many states in the U.S., the Spanish definition of residency is not clearly defined by an explicit number of days presence. She will very likely settle for the full amount if she wants access to her Spanish child or to ever visit/do business in the country again.

Access to her Spanish child?? Is that at risk?