Mourinho agrees to pay RM16m tax debt

MADRID: Jose Mourinho reached a settlement with Spanish tax authorities yesterday, agreeing to pay a €3.3 million (RM16 million) tax debt for the time he was Real Madrid coach.

The Manchester United manager arrived at court room No 4 in Pozuelo de Alarcon just outside of Madrid at 9.33am local time for his 10am appearance.

He stood accused of evading tax for the years 2010 to 2013 but told reporters outside the magistrates court after his private hearing: “I did not argue. I have paid and signed with the state to say I am definitely tax compliant.”

Mourinho understood his affairs were in order when he returned to England in 2013. Jorge Mendes’s Gestifute agency, that represents Mourinho issued a statement issued earlier this year.

It read: “Jose Mourinho paid more than €26 million 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 of 2011 and 2012 and entered into a settlement agreement regarding 2013.

“The Spanish Government issued a certificate in which it attested that he had regularised his position and was in compliance with all his tax obligations.”

But the authorities reopened his case.

Mourinho added on the court steps yesterday: “When I left Spain in 2013 I understood my situation was all in order. Two years later they got back in touch with me but I have paid and signed.”

Mourinho was accused of failing to declare income of €1.6 million in 2011 and €1.7 million in 2012 by receiving earnings from images rights into a web of offshore companies based in tax havens established to keep them from the attention of the Spanish tax man.

The practice is widespread and was once overlooked by authorities in Spain but when an investigation suggested Spain was missing out on up to €190 million of tax there was a crack down on players and coaches.

Other players represented by the Portuguese agent Mendes have been through the same process as Mourinho. Former Real defenders Fabio Coentrao and Ricardo Carvalho, Colombian striker Radamel Falcao and Paris Saint Germain’s Angel di Maria, all had to pay money back.