Google to pay nearly €1 bln of fines and taxes in France


09/13/2019

Google will pay a total of €965 million to settle tax claims of the French authorities, reports Bloomberg. These payments are expected to put an end to the lawsuit against the company in France, which has been going on for four years.



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Google agreed to pay nearly €1 billion to stop investigation into the company in France, which has been going on for several years. Google will pay a fine of €500 million, the French financial prosecutor said on Thursday, September 12. In addition, the concern agreed to pay €465 million in taxes.

The agreement that Google France and Google Ireland pay a fine was reached as a result of a settlement. French Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into Google back in 2015.

The French authorities accused Google, which European headquarters is located in Dublin, of the fact that a significant portion of income taxes from operations in France were paid in Ireland.

Google records the majority of its sales in European countries in the accounts of the Irish division, and therefore, a significant part of taxes is paid by the company in Ireland. This is possible due to loopholes in international tax law, and France claims to lose billions of euros in budget revenues as a result.

An agreement to settle this case was approved by the French court on Thursday, and if the company does not withdraw it in the next 10 days, it will enter into force. Under the terms of the agreement, Google admitted validity of the claims, but did not plead guilty.

source: bloomberg.com