‘I’ve paid everything’, Shakira denies evading tax

Earlier this year, Spanish authorities announced that they would be seeking a prison sentence of eight years and two months against famous singer Shakira for allegedly evading taxes from 2014 to 2016. Shakira is daring them to go ahead.

 What’s she saying? 

In a recent interview, the Colombian star stated that she would be fighting the charges, claiming that she was too busy tearing it up on stage across the globe to be considered a resident of Spain. “First of all, I didn’t spend 183 days per year at that time at all. I was busy fulfilling my professional commitments around the world,” Shakira told Elle on Wednesday. These are not the best of times for the “queen of Latin music”, who is also having to deal with separation from her partner of twelve years, Gerard Pique. 

Is she separated from Pique? 

Yes, she is. While both are currently engaged in a custody dispute, it appears that the Barcelona defender has moved on quite swiftly because he is already seeing another woman. On the other hand, Shakira would rather wait to see how the separation pans out, to try and limit the impact on their two kids. In an interview with Elle, the artist acknowledged that her current circumstances are not the best. “Sometimes I feel like this is a nightmare and that I will wake up at some point,” Shakira told Elle. 

Where is she with the tax case? 

She says she does not owe the tax authority. “Second, I’ve paid everything they claimed I owed, even before they filed a lawsuit. So as of today, I owe zero to them. And finally, I was advised by one of the four biggest tax specialist firms in the world, PricewaterhouseCoopers, so I was confident that I was doing things correctly and transparently from day one”, she said in the Elle interview. 

The media attention from both the divorce and court case seems to be taking its toll on her: “I have paparazzi camping outside, in front of my house, 24/7,” she said. “And there’s not a place where I can hide from them with my kids, except for my own house.” She has called this period “probably the darkest hour of my life.”