Jose Mourinho handed Madrid court date two days before Manchester United travel to former club Chelsea
The Portuguese coach is accused of having defrauded the Spanish tax authorities of €3.3m (£2.9m)
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Jose Mourinho has been summoned to appear in court in Madrid on November 3rd over tax offences – just two days before his side are due to face former club Chelsea.
The Manchester United manager is accused of having defrauded the Spanish tax authorities of €3.3m during his time as Real Madrid boss.
Mourinho is alleged to have defrauded €1.6m in 2011 and €1.7m in 2012 by failing to declare revenues from his image rights “with the aim of obtaining illicit profits”, a prosecutor said in a statement.
Under Spanish law, the tax office can investigate alleged fraud up to four years back in its records, with their tax year running the course of a normal calendar year ending on 31 December – unlike in the UK.
However, tax returns can be filed up to six months after the end of the tax year, meaning any earnings in 2012 could have been paid as late as 30 June 2013, which enables Spanish tax authorities in 2017 to look back that far in their records to identify potential tax fraud. Mourinho left Real Madrid in the summer of 2013.
The 54-year-old already settled a previous claim against him in 2014 which resulted in a penalty of €1.15m, but tax authorities later found that some of the information presented in that settlement was incorrect, prosecutors said in June.
The 54-year-old settled a previous claim against him in 2014 which resulted in a penalty of €1.15m, but tax authorities later found that some of the information presented in that settlement was allegedly incorrect.
When charges were announced in June, Mourinho released a statement denying any contact from prosecutors and insisted that his taxes had been paid in full:
"Jose Mourinho has not received any notification with regards to the news published today.
"To this date, neither the Spanish tax authorities, not the public prosecutor have contacted Jose Mourinho or his advisers who were hired for the inspection process.
"Jose Mourinho, who lived in Spain from June 2010 until May 2013, paid more than €26m in taxes, with an average tax rate over 41 per cent, and accepted the regularisation proposals made by the Spanish tax authorities in 2015 regarding the years 2011 and 2012 and entering into a settlement agreement regarding 2013."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments