Cristiano Ronaldo’s Hair Transplant Clinics Are Under Investigation

Authorities in Spain are allegedly looking into tax-related matters at the hair transplant clinics that Cristiano Ronaldo co-owns.

Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese player and Al-Nassr, is paid an incredible £173 million annually. Although Spanish publication Sport claims that Ronaldo may be in difficulties, Forbes estimates that his net worth in 2023 will be $500 million (£409 million).

The 38-year-old is the owner of multiple Insparya Medical Clinic hair transplant facilities, and The Tax Agency in Spain is looking into these.

According to the newspaper, they have filed a complaint against the hair transplant clinics for sending hundreds of customers several invoices without VAT between 2019 and 2021.

In its defense, the company argues that since alopecia “is a disease,” “medical services of diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and cure” are free from the value-added tax (VAT).

But according to reports, the Spanish Treasury has been asserting that transplants have ‘purely aesthetic reasons’ instead, meaning that their costs have to account for VAT, which is presently 21% in Spain.

Bank statements, cash transfers, and an anonymized list of payments have all been examined by tax inspectors.

Read Also: Iran Denies Rumor Claiming Ronaldo Would Be Given 99 Lashes

February 2022 saw the opening of the investigation file, and May 2023 saw the start of the hearing procedure.

Although the clinics have delegated responsibility for the procedure to lawyers, they maintain that they have complied with all applicable laws and rules.

The paper continues by stating that investigators have been making an effort to emphasize how these treatments are performed for ‘purely cosmetic’ reasons.

Consequently, they showed up at the company’s Madrid offices to look over pictures of patients taken at various points during the transplant procedure.

Along with those bills without VAT, the Tax Agency also requested that the company justify other charges that it had subtracted related to lodging, meals, and travel.

On the other hand, Insparya responded with a World Health Organization report and a dermatologist’s opinion.

In doing so, they argued that a transplant is a necessary “medical treatment” and that alopecia is an illness, which helped to justify the VAT exemption.

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.”