Shakira’s yearslong legal battle with Spain’s IRS counterpart has reached a new frontier: her 2018 taxes. The “Hips Don’t Lie” singer will be investigated for alleged fraud on her wealth and income tax in 2018, a Spanish court said on July 20, per Reuters. The new allegations are in addition to the earlier charges of evasion, stemming from the over €14.5 million ($14.31 million) back taxes owed in 2012 and 2014. She faces eight years in prison over the latter charges. Spain first charged Shakira in 2018, making this whole tax thing a nearly five-year odyssey during which the world underwent many changes. For example, Shakira relocated to Miami after separating from former FC Barcelona player Gerard Piqué, whose alleged cheating is chronicled in the singer’s track with Bizarrap, among other historic shifts. “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 a statement, per Reuters. “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.” Spain is wasting all this time and energy on the legal process when it could’ve just put the defendant’s hips on the stand many moons ago. Then, we’d know the truth.
