REAL MADRID star Marcelo is being investigated over tax fraud worth £435,000 by Spanish authorities.
El Confidencial reports that Madrid’s public prosecutor has filed a complaint dating back to the 2013 financial year.
Marcelo Vieira Da Silva’s complaint said Marcelo entered declarations for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 without including income from image rights “in order to obtain an unlawful tax benefit “.
It added: “All these corporate structures were used by the taxpayer in order to fiscally obscure the benefits derived from the exploitation of his image rights.”
The investigation into Marcelo was revealed by to El Mundo earlier this month.
It claimed the Spanish tax agency AEAT filed papers to the prosecutors for economic crimes to consider whether he needs to face court action over alleged unpaid taxes.
The Brazilian star filed his accounts for the 2013 two years ago, declaring £350,000 in image rights through a corporate tax scheme, which carries a lower levy.
But the AEAT believe Marcelo should have entered the money he earned as a personal tax payment, which means he should have paid more to the state.
Marcelo, 29, denies the allegations and says all tax has been paid properly.
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He is the latest footballer to be investigated over their tax payments by Spanish authorities.
Real Madrid team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo has been in court denying tax evasion to the tune of £13million.
In May this year Barcelona star Lionel Messi was sentenced to 21 months in prison after being convicted of £3.5m in tax avoidance over three years.
Messi was able to avoid serving time in prison by paying in full a £221,000 fine imposed by the court - the amount he earns in three days at Barca.
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