Barcelona footballer Gerard Piqué ordered to pay €2.1 million in taxes

Barcelona footballer Gerard Piqué ordered to pay €2.1 million in taxes

IT might seem a lot, but it is dwarfed by the €14.5 million his superstar wife, singer Shakira paid at the start of what has been a very expensive year for the Piqué family.

The defender had lodged an appeal against a tax office demand for back taxes covering the years 2008, 2009 and 2010. The final sum includes €678,012.59 in fines.

The Treasury considers that the sportsman pretended to give his lucrative image rights to his company, Kerad Project 2006, in order to pay corporate tax of 30 per cent rather than the 45 per cent due as personal income tax.

In the inspection, the Treasury considered that Piqué obtained income from working as a professional football player resident in Spain from Real Zaragoza, Manchester United and the Spanish Football Federation.

It also concluded that Piqué obtained other income from image rights, from interest earned on a loan granted to a related entity, from amounts received by a British sponsor and from interest on his bank accounts.

The Tax Agency decided that “the contract concluded between Piqué and the entity Kerad Project 2006 by virtue of which the former assigned his image rights to the latter, was simulated.”

Spain’s National Court agreed and has ordered Piqué to pay up, although he can appeal to the Supreme Court.

Earlier this year Shakira appeared in court having been accused of avoiding €14.5 million in taxes by claiming she was a resident of the Bahamas when she in fact lived in Catalonia.

She told the Barcelona judges that she is up-to-date with her taxes and had given her full cooperation to the investigation.

Shakira ‘officially’ became tax resident in Spain in 2015, moving her residency from the Bahamas. She lives in Barcelona with footballer Piqué and their two sons.

However, the Spanish taxman says that from 2012 to 2014 she was living in Catalonia and should have paid tax on her world-wide income in those years.

In February El Periodico newspaper reported the singer had paid €14.5 million to settle the debt.

Shakira’s PR company said: “As soon as she learned how much she owed the Spanish tax authorities – and before a complaint was filed – Shakira paid the full amount, as well as providing the tax office with exhaustive information. For this reason, there is currently no debt whatsoever.”