THE BIG STORY: Nobody likes filing their taxes. But for globe-trotting music stars on cross-border tours, it’s an even bigger problem — and one that can lead to massive legal headaches.
Case in point: In a ruling last week, a Spanish court acquitted Colombian superstar Shakira of tax fraud and ordered the return of 60 million euros ($69 million) that had been levied for the 2011 income tax year. Spain claimed she was a legal resident, but she proved that she had spent just 163 days in the country between stops on her Sale el Sol world tour.
Shakira’s ordeal highlights the immense complexity of taxes for international stars, as Billboard’s Rachel Scharf reported last week. They need to closely track what days they spend where to figure out where to claim residency, as well as the taxes in each country they visit on tour, as a portion of concert revenue must be paid to local authorities.
“I advise my clients to maintain a calendar where they document every single day where they are, just for this reason,” says one music attorney who handles tax structuring for many touring musicians.
For all the ins-and-outs — including the complicated IRS process for taking a cut from international stars — go read Rachel’s full story here.
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Other top stories this week…
-A month after a blockbuster jury verdict that Live Nation is an illegal monopoly, the coalition of state attorneys general that won it asked a federal judge to order the company to sell Ticketmaster.
-Later that same day, Live Nation asked the judge to overturn that verdict, arguing that it was “legally indefensible” based on the evidence presented to jurors at the trial last month.
-The owner of the Peanuts theme song and other music from the Charlie Brown franchise launched a wave of copyright lawsuits over Vince Guaraldi‘s iconic jazz tracks.
–Wiz Khalifa is wanted by the police in Romania, who claimed he had a warrant out for his arrest to complete a nine-month prison sentence on illegal drug possession charges.
-Gabriela Gonzalez, a social media influencer who shares a daughter with ex-Why Don’t We singer Jack Avery, was arrested and charged with hiring a hitman to kill him amid a child custody dispute.
–Saweetie and Jason Derulo were both hit with lawsuits alleging they breached contracts to perform at Japan’s Afro Jam Festival last summer.
-In yet more Live Nation news, the company reached a wrongful death settlement with families of the two women killed by a gunman at the 2023 Beyond Wonderland dance music festival in Washington.
–Snoop Dogg argued in court filings that his company was not in charge of the Los Angeles hip-hop festival where Drakeo the Ruler was fatally stabbed in 2021.
-A proposed federal law would let indie artists team up to collectively negotiate licenses with AI companies and streaming platforms to help them “demand fair compensation.”
