Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo could avoid punishment for alleged tax evasion as an official complaint may not be filed before next month’s deadlines.
According to Mundo Deportivo, Ronaldo’s case “remains in the shade” and “time is running out” for the Portuguese to be sanctioned.
The Agency still has until June 4 to move its file of the 32-year-old to the prosecutor’s office, despite opening its investigation all the way back in December 2015.
MD cites sources from the country’s Ministry of Finance that believe the file is now with prosecutors, but the latter must issue a complaint before June 30, otherwise the allegations levelled against Ronaldo will be thrown out.
Nonetheless, MD claims “there are plenty of arguments from the same source” that incriminate Ronaldo.
Football Leaks and El Mundo both suggested last December that the No 7 funnelled at least €150m into an overseas tax haven in order to hide earnings on image rights and avoid taxes.
The Tax Agency began investigating Ronaldo a year before for possible irregularities in his Non-Resident Income Tax (IRNR) returns for 2011, 2012 and 2013.
The newspaper explains Ronaldo has paid only €5.6m in tax on image rights since arriving from Manchester United in 2009, less than four percent of the total generated, while the Tax Agency believes he should have paid “much more”.
