The hair transplant clinics Cristiano Ronaldo co-owns are under investigation by Spanish authorities over tax issues, it has been revealed.
Al Nassr and Portugal icon Ronaldo, who Forbes estimates to have a net worth of $500million (£409million), has diversified his income by investing in several business interests throughout his career.
However, according to Spanish outlet Sport, Ronaldo's clinics are facing scrutiny.
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The 38-year-old co-owns several Insparya Medical Clinic hair transplant clinics that are allegedly being probed by The Tax Agency in Spain.
The report alleges that The Tax Agency opened a file against the hair transplant clinics after they issued several invoices without VAT between 2019 and 2021 to hundreds of clients.
The Treasury in Spain has allegedly claimed that transplants are “purely for aesthetic purposes” and therefore their prices must include VAT, which is currently 21 per cent in Spain.
Tax investigators are said to have inspected bank statements, cash payments and an anonymised list of payments.
Meanwhile, the clinics have handed responsibility for the process to lawyers and insist they have complied with all legislation and regulations.
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In defence Insparya Medical Clinic claimed that alopecia “is a disease” and therefore “medical services of diagnosis, prevention, treatment and cure” are exempt from VAT.
Insparya delivered a report from the World Health Organisation and an opinion of a doctor who specializes in dermatology as part of their response.
The report said: “It is not questionable that the treatment of the disease of alopecia leads to an aesthetic improvement in a large part of the patients subjected to said treatment, but the objective of this treatment is not only aesthetic but also medical, such as the placement of a prosthesis to a patient who has lost a limb.”
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Featured Image Credit: GettyTopics: Football, Cristiano Ronaldo