Shakira to face trial for tax evasion

Shakira performs in Barcelona, Spain. Photo / Getty Images

Shakira is to face trial for tax evasion.

The 44-year-old singer - who has sons Milan, eight, and Sasha, six, with husband Gerard Pique - has been under investigation for three years and on Thursday, Judge Marco Juberias declared he had found "sufficient evidence of criminality" and recommended the case moves to the next step.

Shakira has been charged with failing to pay €14.5 million (NZ$24.6 million) in taxes to Spain between 2012 and 2014, but the "Hips Don't Lie" singer's publicist has insisted she has paid what was owed after being given the bill, RadarOnline.com reports.

The Colombian singer - who declared Spain as her official country of residence in 2015 - claimed she was based in the Bahamas at the time, but prosecutors have argued she was living in the European country with her husband and she was only going overseas for professional reasons.

Under Spanish law, people who spend more than six months a year in the country are required to pay their taxes in Spain.

The authorities calculated the unpaid tax bill from all of her global income, rather than what she just earned in Spain.

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Shakira faces a possible fine and even a prison sentence, though a judge is able to waive jail time for first offenders if they are sentenced to less than two years behind bars.

Judge Juberias' decision can also be appealed.

Meanwhile, Shakira recently revealed she is trying to give her children "as much normalcy" as she can, despite their famous parents.

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She said: "I don't make [my kids] listen to my music. I try to avoid playing my own music in my house.

"I try to give them as much normalcy as I can. I can't deny they can't escape the reality that I'm a public person, as well as their dad. But we try to provide as much normalcy as we can, and live really as very simple people."