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Shakira to appear in Spanish court on Thursday over alleged tax evasion

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Shakira is reportedly set to appear in a court near Barcelona on Thursday over claims she avoided paying more than 14.5 million euros (C$21.9 million) in taxes between 2012 and 2014.

Catalan newspaper El Periodico reported earlier this year that a judge in Esplugues de Llobregat had agreed to investigate the case and had summoned the musician to appear in court on June 12, according to the Guardian.

Now, Yahoo! reports that the hearing has been moved up by six days to Thursday, June 6.

ET Canada has reached out to Shakira’s rep for comment on the scheduled court appearance.

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The charges, published in December, allege that the Colombian pop star listed the Bahamas as her official residence for tax purposes during those years, even though she was living in Barcelona with her partner, Spanish soccer player Gerard Pique.

Shakira started living with Pique in 2011, and in 2013, the couple had their first son, who was born in a Barcelona hospital. However, according to Spain’s El Pais newspaper, the singer’s defence team said that she wasn’t in the country most of this time and that most of her income came from abroad.

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The prosecutors say that Shakira’s foreign travel was for short periods because of professional commitments, while the majority of the year she stayed in Spain; therefore they want her to pay tax in Spain on her worldwide income.

Spanish law states that if she spent at least 183 days in Spain, she is considered a fiscal resident of the country and must pay taxes on all of her global income. Any time less than that, she would only need to pay taxes on money earned working inside the country.

“Shakira has at all times fulfilled her tax obligations and owes no money to the Spanish Treasury,” the singer’s representatives previously said in a statement to Billboard.

“As soon as she was made aware of the amount that, according to the Tax Agency she owed, as a gesture of good faith, she made the payment in full, and, therefore, there are currently no monies owed.”

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