José Mourinho accused of €3.3 million tax fraud by Spanish prosecutors

Spanish prosecutors have filed a claim against Manchester United manager José Mourinho relating to two counts of alleged tax fraud in 2011 and 2012 during his time as manager of Real Madrid.

Mourinho signed an agreement stating he had not declared part of his image rights and agreed to a €1.1m fine

Prosecutors say Mourinho, who is Portuguese, owes the Spanish Tax Agency €1,611,537 for 2011 and €1,693,133 for 2012, for a total outstanding tax bill of €3,304,670.

The Madrid provincial public prosecutor’s office accuses Mourinho of creating a network of shell companies “with the object of hiding profits from his image rights.”

Mourinho signed with Real Madrid in March 2010, transferring his residence for tax purposes to the Spanish capital. But in his 2011 and 2012 tax returns, he did not declare earnings from his image rights, which prosecutors say he did “with the intention of obtaining illegal benefit.”

In July 2014, the Spanish Tax Agency told Mourinho that it was looking into his income tax returns for the tax years 2010 to 2012, as well as his non-resident return for 2013.

A year later, in July 2015, Mourinho signed an official agreement stating that he had not declared part of his image rights and agreeing to a fine of €1.1 million, according to the Madrid public prosecutor’s office. But the Tax Agency says that it subsequently uncovered a network of companies and is now demanding the amounts it says Mourinho should have paid during that period.

English version by Nick Lyne.