EFE.- Shakira will appeal the decision of the Spanish Justice to leave her to a trial step for alleged tax fraud of 14.5 million euros, insisting that in the investigated years she did not have legal residence in the country and that the thesis of the Treasury, the body in charge of the Spanish tax system, is “legally unacceptable.”
Source of the defense of the Colombian singer reported this Friday that with the appeal, which will be presented to the Audience of Barcelona, the artist’s legal team intends to revoke the judge’s decision to close the investigation so that the case can be settled in court, before the “diametrically opposed” positions of defense and accusations about the tax interpretation to be applied.
Shakira is one step away from trial, given the indications that she defrauded 14.5 million euros to the Treasury -which has already paid the Tax Agency, along with another three million interest-, pretending not to reside in Spain and hiding its income through a corporate network based in tax havens, between 2012 and 2014.
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The appeal, which the Spanish newspaper advances today The country, insists that Shakira had “foreign citizenship and residence” and remember that, when returning the amount that the Treasury claimed, now “he has no pending tax debt.”
Shakira’s defense uses two expert reports – signed, among others, by a professor of financial and tax law and a magistrate of the Spanish Supreme Court – that qualify as “legally unacceptable” the thesis of the Treasury that accuses the singer of avoiding paying taxes between 2012 and 2014, despite having the obligation to do so since he resided in Spain more than 183 days per year.
However, in the opinion of the defense, to demonstrate that the singer had residence in Spain, the Treasury resorts to an indirect test that “does not comply with the jurisprudential requirements” to be considered as such.
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In fact, to calculate the number of days that Shakira remained in Spain in the investigated exercises, the inspectors of the Spanish Tax Agency rebuilt their activity through different tests, such as tracking payments made with the credit card -from hairdressers to clothing stores or restaurants-, as well as airline tickets or hotel bills.
The Colombian artist also reproaches the Tax Agency for resorting to a “legally indeterminate concept, called sporadic absences”, to increase the number of days she was in Spain, “based on an interpretation unknown to date in the Spanish courts” .
The criminal proceeding against Shakira stems from a complaint from the Spanish Prosecutor’s Office, which accuses her of six crimes against the Public Treasury.
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