King Juan Carlos has remained under the scrutiny of the Tax Agency. After it became known that the emeritus king has returned the €4 million that was loaned to him to pay his debt, interest has increased. For this reason, a tax expert has issued a final warning about Juan Carlos that promises to generate a major stir.
Being exiled in Abu Dhabi hasn't stopped King Juan Carlos from continuing to create controversy with his actions. The origin of his money remains unclear and there are those who won't give up on finding out where his income comes from.
A tax expert puts the spotlight on King Juan Carlos
Few things have caused more commotion than King Juan Carlos's problems with the tax authorities. So much so that this led to his abdication and his exile to the Emirates. It also led Felipe to renounce his inheritance because he didn't know the origin of the amount he would inherit from his father.
Now, the fact that he has returned the €4 million that his business friends loaned him has set off the alarm. That's why a tax expert has issued a warning about King Juan Carlos: he must be investigated.
According to the union of Technicians of the Ministry of Finance, the emeritus king received those loans in February 2021 to regularize his personal income tax for the 2014-2018 period. The amount is said to be about €4.4 million, including surcharges and interest. What's curious is that at that time King Juan Carlos was still a tax resident in Spain, until he moved to the United Arab Emirates.
For this reason, an expert has formally requested that the Tax Agency open an inspection. They want to analyze the guarantees, conditions, and clauses of these loans that are supposedly already repaid. They would also request to know if King Juan Carlos had assets abroad that year: real estate, shares, or accounts, and their valuation.
The reason for such urgency is that, if there were irregularities, they could expire on June 30, 2026, according to several media outlets. So there is enough time for the emeritus king to respond if, in fact, the money movements aren't properly justified.
King Juan Carlos could be investigated again
The ultimate goal of the tax expert is to verify where the main center of King Juan Carlos's economic interests is located. If that center remains in Spain, even though he lives in the Emirates, he would continue to be taxed here. But if it's elsewhere, they could consider that his regularization was untruthful, incomplete, or incorrect.
If so, that could have criminal consequences for offenses against the public treasury. But the expert's request doesn't end there; he also wants the origin and nature of certain income of King Juan Carlos to be checked.
When he paid out those €4 million, it was said that the money came from image rights and certain business operations. The point is to find out what's true about that and whether he received the money directly or through companies.
This issue hasn't come out of nowhere. In 2024, a complaint was filed by former Supreme Court judges and former anti-corruption prosecutors, who reported five tax offenses against the emeritus king. They argued that his tax regularization came after he became formally aware of an investigation, which would violate the law.
But the Supreme Court decided not to admit that complaint. The ruling stated that the facts are time-barred, didn't constitute a crime, or had already been subject to tax regularization. Even so, the tax expert's claim once again puts the spotlight on that recent past of King Juan Carlos.
The difference now is that this isn't a judicial process, but an administrative inspection by the Tax Agency. An investigation focused on technical and fiscal aspects, but one that could have consequences for Juan Carlos.