James Rodríguez wins case in Spain, recovers over 3 million euros | OneFootball

James Rodríguez, who currently wears the Minnesota United shirt, secured an important victory off the pitch after a Spanish court ruled in his favor in a dispute with the country’s tax authorities. Spain’s National Court determined that the tax office must return more than three million euros to the player. In the tax year in question, James had received 2.2 million from Monaco and another 4.3 million from Real Madrid, in addition to 11 million euros in image rights.

The case dates back to 2014, the year of his first season at Real Madrid, when the Spanish Tax Agency penalized him for alleged tax evasion. The tax authorities argued that the former FC Porto player had been a tax resident in Spain during that period, a claim the player always rejected.

According to the newspaper El Mundo, the Colombian international’s defense was based on the fact that he had lived more than 183 days in the Principality of Monaco. The player stressed that “there was no prior connection, either economic or personal, with Spain until July 22,” the date on which his signing for Real Madrid was made official.

Although the tax authority initially rejected James’s appeal, arguing that his center of economic activity was in Spain, the National Court ultimately ruled in favor of the athlete. The Administrative Litigation Chamber concluded that the footballer had managed to prove residence of at least 202 days in Monaco.

In this way, the court understood that James Rodríguez had been a resident in Monaco until the date of his arrival at the Madrid club. Consequently, the arguments of the State Attorney’s Office were deemed irrelevant, leading to the annulment of the October 2020 decision by the Central Economic-Administrative Court, which had imposed the sanctions on the player.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.