Marcelo to pay €753,000 in tax fraud settlement in Spain

Real Madrid defender Marcelo is to part with €753,624 to settle a tax fraud case after an agreement was reached with the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office in Madrid it was revealed on Tuesday.

Last October, the Real Madrid full-back was accused of evading payment to the Spanish treasury in relation to his image rights.

However, Spanish news agency EFE reported on Tuesday that a settlement has been reached and Marcelo has gone to court in Madrid to ratify the agreement.

Marcelo is the latest in a line of high-profile figures in Spanish football to be punished in relation to tax affairs,

others who have had to keep a date with the tax man in Spain include five time Balloon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo who recently moved to Italian side Juventus, Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi and current Manchester United coach Jose Mourinho.

In the case of Ronaldo, the portugal international had to reach an agreement with Spanish tax authorities to serve two years in prison and pay an 18.8m euro ($21.8m) fine in a tax evasion case.

The 33-year-old, winner of the Best Footballer of the Year in 2017,was however spared the prison palaver  because Spanish law states that a sentence of under two years for a first offence can be served on probation.

Prosecutors had accused Ronaldo of declaring only 11.5m euro ($13.6m) of Spanish-related income from 2011 to 2014, during which time his actual earnings were close to 43m euro ($50.8m).

They also accuse him of “voluntarily” refusing to include 28.4m euro ($33.6m) in income linked to the sale of his image rights for the 2015 to 2020 period to a Spanish company.