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Aleix and Pol Espargarò are being investigated by the Spanish internal revenue service, which has already dealt with MotoGP riders. In the past, both Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa had been under investigation for their residence in Switzerland. Jorge had then won the case against the tax authorities. The Espargarò brothers reside in Andorra, but the dispute is the same: the internal revenue service claims that theirs is a “fictitious” residence and that the two riders actually live and do business on a recurring basis in Spain, therefore, that is where they have to pay taxes.
The story was reconstructed by El Periodico, which provided many details, starting with the amount that Aleix owes: well over half a million Euros (€.586,950, to be precise), deriving from unpaid taxes and penalties in the years from 2014 to 2017. In fact, TEARC (the Regional Economic Administrative Court of Catalonia) claims that the older Espargarò brother spent no less than 204 days in Spain in 2004, 206 in 2015, 189 in 2016, and 219 in 2017: more than the 183 days allowed by law for tax residence in the country.
The rider’s lawyers disagree, since Aleix has been living in Andorra with his family for a long time: “We will file an appeal,” they stated. Espargarò himself also intervened personally on the subject: “It’s obvious that debates are generated, even if they’re more moral than legal, because I’m not doing anything illegal. I also pay taxes in Andorra, and I pay them here because this is where I live.” The rider didn’t deny that he had chosen the Principality also for tax purposes but, above all, for the quality of life.
The story has been going on for a few years. In 2018, the officials of the revenue service had appeared twice on the circuit to warn the two Esparagarò brothers of the ongoing procedure (first in Aragon and then in Jerez), but they had refused to meet them and claimed to have been “harassed”.
