Shakira wins £50m tax refund from Spanish government

A Spanish court has ordered the country’s tax authority to refund €55m (£48m, $64m) to singer Shakira after ruling that the money was improperly collected in a dispute over her taxes.

The national high court has acquitted the Colombian singer of tax fraud and ordered the Treasury to repay the money plus interest to her. It said tax authorities had failed to prove she spent 183 days in Spain in 2011 – the minimum required for residents to pay personal income tax there.

Shakira said the court had “finally set the record straight” after she had spent eight years “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 49-year-old star, who is known for hits like Hips Don’t Lie and Wherever, Whenever, added: “There was never any fraud, and the Administration itself could never prove otherwise, simply because it wasn’t true.