Over the years, the UK tax authorities have come in for their fair share of criticism from wealthy celebrities.
Almost 50 years after incurring the wrath of The Beatles, the Revenue caused the world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, to vow never to race again in this country. This was because of the chunk which it wanted of his considerable on-track earnings.
Despite his beef with HMRC, I reckon that he'd agree that when it comes to the top tough tax regimes, he'd admit that Britain's well off the pace.
Having inconvenienced a slew of star names over the years, including:
among many others. Spain's national tax authority (known as the 'Agencia Tributaria') is arguably one of the most aggressive anywhere in the world.
One might say that reputations count for very little when it comes to pursuing amounts owing to Treasury in Madrid.
In an interview with Elle magazine, she maintains that her profile is one of the principal reasons why she's been caught up in a long-running tax investigation.
As we've previously remarked on this very 'blog, she has been accused of failing to pay more than £12 million in taxes between 2012 and 2014. A period during which she began a relationship with the Spain and Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique.
Only last month, Spanish prosecutors called for Shakira to face an eight years in jail and a £22 million fine.
They allege that her use of shell companies ("legal entities as intermediaries") in tax havens is an aggravating factor in the case.
Shakira's involvement with such agencies first came to light in the 'Paradise Papers', the 2017 leak of more than 13 million files from two offshore services providers and company registration offices in 19 of the world's main tax havens.
Given that this is the performer who once released an album entitled 'She Wolf', we perhaps shouldn't be surprised that she has so far refused to yield to pressure from 'el recaudador de impuestos' (that's Spanish for taxman, to you and I).
She rejected a settlement offer earlier this year and has vowed to take the case to court. It is, she told Elle, "a matter of principle".
Lionel Messi and his father were both sentenced to prison terms for tax fraud. Subsequently reducing these sentences to fines.
The Argentinian's already fragile relationship with Spanish authorities was blown open by a newspaper story. The story details his contract with Barcelona makes him the highest tax payer on the Iberian peninsula.
Not long afterwards, he followed Neymar and Ronaldo - two of the Agencia's previous targets - out of La Primera Liga and ended up at Paris St-Germain.
The end of Shakira's relationship with Messi's former Barça team-mate Pique means that she now has fewer ties to Spain as well.
Her representatives say that she wasn't truly resident in Spain during the years in question. She has already paid whatever tax might be due.
Nevertheless, whether Shakira is correct in asserting that she owes "zero to them [the tax authorities]" or ends up facing an outcome as unpleasant as many Spanish celebrities have encountered in the past only time and a judge will tell.
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