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Google Evaded $1.27 Billion In Taxes In France—Report

Google tax

Google’s unpaid taxes case was in the French court earlier, (1.115 billion Euros) equivalent to $1.27 billion were unpaid according to the French state, the French court has ruled today that Google’s Irish Subsidiary is not taxable in France.

According to Reuters, French authorities raided Google’s office in Paris and started investigations over escaping taxes. The case was in court since last May 2016.

The French Court today has ruled in favor of Google upholding their claim “Google’s Irish Subsidiary is not Taxable In France.”  

According to NYT’s Google has won the case saving $1.3 billion in taxes, The French company Google Ireland Limited (GIL) is not taxable in France for the period 2005 to 2010 according to the court’s ruling.

Google has paid only 6.7 euros in corporate taxes in France during 2015, the revenues generated by its Irish subsidiary were out of the taxes, a legal loophole which Google has used to save money.

In France, Google employs 700 people, but the Google advertising and YouTube contracts were signed with Irish subsidiary a low-tax heaven for European Multinationals. As Google generates more revenues with advertising contracts shifting the agreements under Irish subsidiary worked well in saving billions.

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This was the latest French claim in the series against U.S based group, Tech companies are already facing mounting pressure in the EU on legal fronts. Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google has faced increasing pressure by the European authorities, European Union previously hit Google with record fine, 2.4 billion euros, for exploiting its authority in search engine and illegally dominating its own shopping service over competitors.

Last year, EU competition Chief Margrethe Vestager ordered Apple to repay 13 billion euros in taxes after paying zero-rate tax for several years.

New French President Emmanuel Macron was seen getting hard on U.S Tech giants in his presidential campaigns, opposing low-tax rates, globalization and unfair treatment to European companies.

Google also paid fewer in taxes to both Italian and British authorities last year. Google paid only 306 million euros to Italian and 130 million pounds to British authorities for 10 years of business. Oppositions in both countries criticized the tax rate as quite low.
However, the French authorities claim was a grain of Google’s annual profits, Alphabet inc, Google’s parent company announced 29 percent increase in profits to $5.4 billion during the first quarter of 2017, this equates nearly $20 billion in annual profits.