Business
A source said France seeks $1.76 billion from Google in back taxes, far more than the £130 million ($181 million) the firm paid the U.K.
Reuters reports:
France is seeking 1.6 billion euros ($1.76 billion) in back taxes from U.S. Internet giant Google (GOOGL.O), criticized for its use of aggressive tax optimization techniques, a source at the finance ministry said on Wednesday. "As far as our country is concerned, back taxes concerning this company amount to 1.6 billion euros," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. A spokeswoman for Google France declined to comment on the amount when contacted by Reuters, saying only that the company obeyed tax rules in all countries where it operated. The finance ministry also declined comment. An unsourced 2012 media report mentioned a claim for 1 billion euros by French authorities, which Google denied at the time. Shares in the company were down 1.8 percent in early New York trade, broadly in line with the Nasdaq average. French tax authority usually issues at least one preliminary assessment before its final assessment, which can be challenged in court if not accepted, tax advisers say.
The Stack writes:
Towards the end of 2014 Google chief executive Larry Page met with French Prime Minister Manuel Valls to reaffirm Google’s commitment to “continue investing in France”. The declaration, however, has an undertow of menace considering that at that point the search giant was already embroiled in tax negotiations which were certain to result at an initial cost of over 1 billion euros. French Deputy Minister for Digital Affairs Axelle Lemaire commented at the time “France is not anti-Google. But when you look at the profit that they make in France, and the number of customers they have, and the tax they pay, it’s outrageous.” If France were to win even half of the sum that it’s now said to be seeking from Google, the United Kingdom seems likely to come in for quite extraordinary criticism across the board for what many have labelled a ‘sweetheart deal’ over tax, and one apparently founded on the Reagan-ite notion of trickledown economics.
Last month the BBC noted:
In France, it is thought the tax authorities may extract something like three times as much as the UK has managed to get, despite the UK employing four times as many staff and earning three times as much revenue. Here the relationship between the company and the government is particularly bruising. Google's offices have been raided. Ministers have called Google a "colonialist", and threatened an "internet tax". In contrast, the UK's approach, according to HMRC, is that it will "seek to handle disputes non-confrontationally and by working collaboratively with the customer wherever possible".
