MADRID: Brazilian footballer Neymar owes more unpaid tax than any other individual on a Spanish blacklist with debts of 34.6 milliona euros.
Neymar played for Barcelona from 2013 to 2017 before moving to the French club Paris Saint-Germain for 222 million euros in the most expensive transfer in history.
According to an official document published on Wednesday, Neymar tops the list of thousands of names published on the website of the Spanish tax office.
The Spanish press reported last year the country’s tax authorities were pursuing Neymar for fiscal fraud dating back to his time at Barcelona, but it is the first time the information has been officially confirmed.
The Spanish tax office did not say whether Neymar’s presence on the list was linked to his transfer to Barcelona from Brazilian club Santos in 2013.
Neymar appears on the list of the highest debtors the individuals had to fulfill several criteria including missing the final deadline to pay the debt.
Spainish authorities are investigating two of Neymar’s transfers, his arrival at Barcelona from Santos in 2013, and his switch to the French capital four years later.
Barcelona said the deal cost 57.1 million euros but according to Spanish authorities said the club paid 83.3 million euros for the footballer.
In 2016, Neyamr signed a new contract which included a payment of bonuses but the club refused to pay him the remaining 26 million euros after he left. In June, a Spanish court dismissed the footballer’s case against the club and told him to pay 6.79 million euros.
Other footballers such as former Real Madrid attacker Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar’s former Barcelona team-mate Lionel Messi have also had issued with Spanish tax officials.
In January 2019, Ronaldo was handed a suspended two-year prison sentence for committing tax fraud in Madrid. He also agreed to pay 18.8 million euros in fines and back taxes to settle the case. Messi paid a two-million-euro fine in 2016 in his own tax case and received a 21-month suspended jail term.
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