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| Google offices in Paris raided by tax authorities | Google offices in Paris raided by tax authorities |
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| French investigators have raided Google’s Paris headquarters as part of an inquiry into tax payments, a source close to the finance ministry said. | French investigators have raided Google’s Paris headquarters as part of an inquiry into tax payments, a source close to the finance ministry said. |
| Investigators arrived at the tech firm’s offices in central Paris at 5am local time, said the source, who declined to be named. | Investigators arrived at the tech firm’s offices in central Paris at 5am local time, said the source, who declined to be named. |
| “A raid is under way at Google,” the source said, confirming a report in the French daily Le Parisien. About 100 investigators and five magistrates are taking part in the raid, it said. | |
| A preliminary enquiry regarding “aggravated financial fraud” and “organised money laundering” was opened on 16 June 2015, France’s national financial prosecutor confirmed early on Tuesday afternoon, according to the financial newspaper Les Echos. | |
| Google released a statement saying: “We comply with French law and are cooperating fully with the authorities to answer their questions”. | |
| France, Britain and other countries have long complained at the way Google, Yahoo! and other digital giants generate profits in their countries but keep their tax bases in other countries, where corporate tax rates are far lower. | France, Britain and other countries have long complained at the way Google, Yahoo! and other digital giants generate profits in their countries but keep their tax bases in other countries, where corporate tax rates are far lower. |
| France is seeking €1.6bn (£1.2bn) in back-taxes from Google, which has been criticised for its use of aggressive tax optimisation techniques, a finance ministry source said in February. | France is seeking €1.6bn (£1.2bn) in back-taxes from Google, which has been criticised for its use of aggressive tax optimisation techniques, a finance ministry source said in February. |
| In January, Google agreed to pay £130m in back-taxes to the UK treasury. | In January, Google agreed to pay £130m in back-taxes to the UK treasury. |
| France has clamped down on aggressive tax optimization techniques by multinational companies, and — looking to shore up fragile state accounts — has launched a campaign to encourage taxpayers to come clean on previously undeclared assets held abroad. The crackdown has yielded €12.2bn in 2015, up almost a fifth from the previous year. | |
| Big multinationals have not been spared. The French tax office, in seeking €1.6bn in back-taxes from Google, has pointedly refused to strike a deal with the US internet giant as the UK has. Earlier this year, the finance minister Michel Sapin said: “The French tax authorities do not negotiate on the amount of tax.” | |
| Google, which has been in the sights of the French tax authorities for around five years, has insisted that it conforms to tax law in every country where it operates. | |
| French authorities recently sent McDonald’s France a €300m bill for unpaid taxes on profits believed to have been funnelled through Luxembourg and Switzerland, business magazine L’Expansion reported last month. |