SHAKIRA is facing a tax probe in Spain in another major blow following her high profile split from ex-partner Gerard Pique.
Officials confirmed today a court near Barcelona had agreed to investigate the Colombian singer-songwriter for suspected 2018 tax breaches.
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The 46-year-old will return to the Catalan capital again in November for the beginning of her £12.5 million tax evasion trial.
Shakira’s legal team said she had not received any notification and found out about the new case through the press.
“The singer’s legal team will not make any comment until the notification reaches her through the formal and legally established channels,” they said in an statement.
“As she has already stated on numerous occasions, Shakira asserts that she has always acted in accordance with the law and under the advice of the best tax experts.
“She is now focused on her artistic life in Miami and is calm and confident that her tax affairs will be resolved favourably,” they added.
A spokesman for Catalonia’s High Court of Justice said: “Court of Instruction Number 2 in Esplugues de Llobregat has opened a procedure following a complaint presented by prosecutors against the singer Shakira for two suspected tax crimes corresponding to her 2018 tax returns.”
The official said they related to income tax and VAT returns, but there has not yet been any official comment from the mum-of-two.
She could face up to eight years in prison if found guilty on the alleged six counts of tax fraud in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
The new probe will be conducted by a judge at a court in Esplugues de Llobregat, the same court which launched the earlier investigation into her taxes.
Before leaving Barcelona for Miami at the start of April, Shakira delivered a stinging attack on Spanish tax authorities after it emerged she would be put on trial over the alleged offences committed between 2012 and 2014.
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She claimed she was being “persecuted” and accused the Spanish Treasury of using “unacceptable methods to damage her reputation and force her to come to a settlement agreement.”
She insisted she had no intention of making any last-minute plea bargain deals and would go to trial.
A spokesman for the Colombian artist also made it clear she felt the country’s tax authorities were accusing her of lying about residing outside of Spain “without evidence” for the years she had been charged with tax fraud.
Shakira, previously tax resident in the Bahamas, only registered as a full-time tax resident in Spain in 2015 despite starting to date her ex Gerard Pique five years earlier.
People who spend more than 183 days in a given calendar year in Spain are considered Spanish residents for tax purposes.
A statement released by Shakira’s Barcelona-based publicists LLYC last November and authorised by Shakira said: “Shakira is a taxpayer who has always shown impeccable tax conduct and has never had tax problems in any other jurisdiction.”
November 20 has been scheduled as the date for the beginning of Shakira’s tax trial, to take place over 12 sessions.
The latest investigation into her taxes comes a year after her high profile split from partner Pique, which saw her relocate to Miami with her two sons.
Shakira jetted off to her new digs in Miami alongside sons Milan, 10, and Sasha, 8, earlier this year.
The Colombian songstress, 46, touched down looking calm and cool as speculation grows of a fiery new romance with NBA star Jimmy Butler.
She was formerly rumoured to have a romance with F1 star Lewis Hamilton, who was spotted soaking up the rays on a yacht with 20-year-old tennis-player and heiress Jenny Stray Spetalen and Mexican actress Eiza Gonzalez this week.
In May, Shakira watched Hamilton race in Miami.
The pair were seen on a boat together after the race, where Lewis showed off his chivalry after picking her up from the back of her £12million beach mansion.
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