Shakira will go to court in Spain on charges of tax fraud.
A judge said that Shakira's trial will go forward, and if she is found guilty of tax fraud, she could spend more than eight years in prison.
Files from Tuesday show that a Spanish court has ordered Colombian music star Shakira to stand trial on charges that she cheated the government out of 14 million euros ($20 million) in taxes.
After the singer turned down a plea deal, prosecutors in Barcelona said in July that they would ask for a prison sentence of more than eight years and a fine of nearly 24 million euros (about $35 million).
They say that the 45-year-old Hips don't Lie singer cheated the Spanish government out of 14.5 million euros (about A$20.5 million) in taxes on income she made from 2012 to 2014.
A court ruling from Tuesday says that on September 19, a court in Barcelona told the singer to stand trial for six tax crimes. The trial date has not yet been set.
Prosecutors say Shakira moved to Spain in 2011 when her relationship with FC Barcelona player Gerard Pique became public, but she kept her official tax residency in the Bahamas until 2015.
The two children of the couple told everyone in June that they were breaking up.
Shakira has said over and over that she did nothing wrong and that she owes the Spanish tax office nothing.
In an interview that came out last week in Elle magazine, she said, "I'm sure I have enough proof to back up my case and that justice will be done in my favor."
"When I was dating Gerard, I was traveling around the world. I was outside of Spain for more than 240 days, so I couldn't be a resident," she said.
"When the Spanish tax office found out I was dating a Spanish citizen, they started salivating. It's obvious that they wanted that money no matter what." The main question in the case is where Shakira lived from 2012 to 2014.
Shakira's lawyers say that she made most of her money from international tours until 2014. They also say that she moved to Spain full time in 2015 and has paid all of her taxes.
The singer says she has paid 17.2 million euros (about $25 million) in taxes to the Spanish government and has no more debts to pay.
She says that Spanish prosecutors are trying to take money from her that she made on her international tour and on "The Voice."
She was a judge on the show in the U.S. when she says she hadn't moved to Spain yet.
'Darkest hours'
In May, the singer asked a court in Barcelona to drop the charges, but the court said no.
Shakira told Elle that her upcoming trial for tax fraud, her divorce from Pique, the custody battle over their children, and her father's illness made this "probably one of the hardest, darkest hours of my life."
In October 2021, the "Pandora Papers," which was one of the biggest leaks of financial documents ever, named the singer as one of the public figures with offshore assets.
Shakira, who has won three Grammys, makes music with a mix of Latin and Arabic rhythms and rock influences. Her songs "Hips Don't Lie," "Whenever, Wherever," and "Waka Waka," which was the official song of the 2010 World Cup, are all big hits around the world.
Spain has gotten tough on football stars like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in recent years for not paying their full taxes.
Both players were found guilty of evasion, but they didn't have to go to jail because it was their first offense.