Neymar offers to pay $2.5 million fine to Brazil tax authorities

SAO PAULO: Brazilian football star Neymar is willing to pay a fine of $2.5 million to settle tax evasion allegations in his country, his lawyer said on Friday.

The 25-year-old wants to leave the fight with Brazilian authorities behind him as he prepares for a new professional life with Paris Saint-Germain after his record $261 million (222 million euro) transfer buyout from FC Barcelona, Neymar’s lawyer Marcos Neder told a press conference.

“This process has stretched on for more than three years and our goal is to move ahead with the new phase that Neymar has begun,” Neder said.

In September 2015, Brazilian tax authorities seized what was then the equivalent of $55.7 million in Neymar’s assets to cover what they said were unpaid taxes from 2011 to 2013, plus penalties and interest.

The case has been snaking its way through the courts ever since. Neymar has scored some victories such as having the amount of seized assets reduced.

However it is now up to tax authorities to decide whether they accept the amount that Neymar’s defense team has calculated that he owes.

Neymar also faces corruption charges in Spain stemming from his transfer to Barcelona from the Brazilian team Santos in 2013.