A Spanish court has ordered the tax authorities to reimburse Colombian singer Shakira more than 55 million euros unduly collected, cancelling a tax dispute relating to the year 2011, according to a court document consulted by AFP on Monday.

The National Court, the court specializing in sensitive cases, ordered in mid-April "the restitution of the sums paid, plus legal interest", thus cancelling the adjustments and fines of several million euros imposed by the administration, which considered the artist as a tax resident in Spain in 2011.

The total amount to be repaid to the global star will exceed 55 million according to the document, since it includes income tax (more than 24 million), the fine imposed at the time for a "very serious" offense amounting to nearly 25 million euros, the wealth tax for 2011 (2.6 million) and the fine related to it (2.7 million), to which will be added interest.

"The administration has not demonstrated that the plaintiff stayed in Spain (...) for more than 183 days," reads the decision of April 15, which specifies that "it does not matter whether the Bahamas were a tax haven in 2011 or not."

The singer has had numerous run-ins with the Spanish tax authorities. Several cases were also settled in 2024.

At the heart of these disputes is the question of the tax residency of the singer who began a relationship in 2011 with former FC Barcelona player Gerard Piqué, but who had been constantly travelling around the world at that time, due to his career.

Shakira has always maintained that she settled permanently in Barcelona at the end of 2014, before transferring her tax residence from the Bahamas to Spain in 2015, just before the birth of her second child.

But the Spanish Treasury did not see it that way and accused her of not having paid her taxes in Spain in 2012, 2013 and 2014 when she had lived in the country for more than 183 days a year during those years, the threshold beyond which a person is considered a tax resident.

In 2023, she reached a last-minute agreement with the prosecution, thus avoiding a trial that promised to expose her private life.

The tax authorities had also initiated proceedings for the year 2018 and the artist had to pay 6.6 million euros in regularization for "irregularities" in his 2018 tax return.

This case full of twists and turns even inspired a series called "Celeste" featuring a Spanish tax inspector investigating the possible tax fraud of an international Latin music star.

In September, Shakira will perform in concert in Spain for the first time since 2018 with six dates planned in Madrid.