Japan is demanding 3.5 million euros from Iniesta for non-payment of taxes

The tax authorities of Japanese they claimed the Spanish footballer Andres Iniesta the payment of 580 million yen (about 3.5 million euros) for improperly declaring his income during his stay in the country, according to Japanese media published this Friday.

Iniesta is one of three foreign footballers who have played for Japanese teams for whom the Japanese Tax Agency is demanding various amounts for improperly complying with their tax obligations, resulting in a total of undeclared amounts of 2,100 million yen (12.7 million euros), according to what state broadcaster NHK published this Friday.

According to unspecified sources cited by NHK, the Osaka Regional Tax Office, which covers the city of Kobe, determined that Iniesta left around 860 million yen (about 5.2 million euros) for his fees that are not declared. contractual agreements with Vissel Kobe, to which he belongs between July 2018 and the same month last year.

Japanese authorities consider Iniesta, 39, to be, for tax purposes, resident in Japan, living at the time with his family in the city of Kobe, where he is a cultural ambassador.

As a result, the Japanese Tax Agency has requested from the footballer, who currently plays for the Emirates Club, an amount of 580 million yen including a surcharge for the accumulated non-payment of taxes, according to the Japanese state broadcaster.

The Japanese Tax Agency concluded that Iniesta and the other two foreign players had not properly filed their tax returns for a certain period of time even though they were living in Japan.

The other two footballers are the South Korean Kim Jin-hyeon (36), Cereza Osaka goalkeeper, who would have left 700 million yen (4.2 million euros) undeclared, and the Brazilian forward Anderson Patric Aguiar Oliveira , ‘Patric’ (36), who currently plays for Nagoya Grampus and would not have declared about 600 million yen (3.6 million euros).