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French police raid Google’s Paris offices in tax probe

French police and tax officials raided the offices of US web giant Google on Tuesday as part of an ongoing probe into tax fraud, reports say.

Published: 24 May 2016 13:13 CEST

French police raid Google's Paris offices in tax probe

Photo: AFP

The raid was carried out at the Paris headquarters of Google, near the Gare Saint-Lazare in the ninth arrondissement, reported Le Parisien newspaper.

The paper reported that it began at 5am.

A source told the paper that the operation was carried out “in top secret” in a bid to avoid any leaks.

One hundred French officials were reportedly on the scene, as well as police and five financial prosecutors.

Authorities demanded that Google pay €1.6 billion ($1.7 billion) in back taxes, a source close to the matter said in February, as controversy mounts over the tax arrangements of multi-national corporations.

Google is one of several companies that have come under fire in Europe for paying extremely low taxes by shifting revenue across borders in an often complex web of financial arrangements.

Google has been raided by French authorities before, in June 2011, during an investigation into transfers to its Irish headquarters.

The company was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai defended Google’s tax practices during a visit to Paris in February.

“We’re a global company. We have to abide by tax laws everywhere, we do abide by local tax laws in every single country,” he said.

“We’re advocating strongly for a simpler global tax system,” he added.

France has previously refused to negotiate the amount of back taxes it would request.

However, a source inside France’s tax authority said in February that bargaining may still be possible.

“This does not mean that Google will ultimately pay 1.6 billion,” the source told AFP. “There will be appeals, and perhaps a negotiation in the end, in particular on penalties.”

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Google flags higher ad rates in France and Spain after digital tax

France has collected the levy since 2019, and Spain since this year, under
pressure from voters to make US tech giants pay a greater share of taxes in
countries where they operate.

The ad rate increase is to “cover a part of the cost of conforming to laws
concerning taxes on digital services in France and Spain,” the internet giant
said in an e-mail seen by AFP.

In France, internet companies with more than 750 million euros ($895
million) in worldwide sales, and 25 million in France, must pay a three
percent tax on their French operations, notably advertising sales and
marketplace operations.

Spain also charges a three-percent tax on some of their businesses.

Jean-Luc Chetrit, head of the Union des Marques, an alliance of major
brands, said Google’s decision would “amputate the investment capacity of
brands at a time when all companies are going through an unprecedented crisis.”

Google did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment, but Karan Bhatia, its head of government affairs, warned in February that “Taxes on digital services complicate efforts to reach a balanced agreement that works for all countries.”

“We urge these governments to reconsider what are essentially tariffs, or
at least suspend them while negotiations continue,” he said.

Google as well as Apple, Facebook and Amazon – grouped together as “GAFA” – are in the crosshairs of European governments that accuse them of exploiting common market rules to declare all profits in the bloc in low-tax
jurisdictions such as Ireland or Luxembourg.

Critics say they are depriving national tax authorities of millions of euros even as they profit from a surge in online activities because of home-working and social distancing rules during the Covid-19 crisis.

The companies counter that they are being unfairly targeted by discriminatory levies.

Google logo. Photo: Eva HAMBACH / AFP

Global deal?

Amazon had already responded to the French tax last October by raising the rates it charges France-based marketplace sellers by three percent.

Apple followed suit by raising the commission it charges developers who
sell apps on its platform not only in France, but also in Italy and Britain.

The French tax move on global digital companies made it a pioneer in the
struggle to find a fair fiscal system for internet multinationals whose tax
bill is often tiny compared to their income.

Contacted by AFP, Facebook said it had no plans to raise prices for ads in
France or Spain for now as it waited for a global accord on fiscal rules.

The French tax brought in 400 million euros to government coffers in 2019,
and the government applied the levy again last year despite pressure from the Trump administration to drop it.

With President Joe Biden in the White House, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – which is overseeing negotiations on a digital tax – has said it hopes a G20 finance ministers’ meeting in July will hammer out an agreement on the issue.

Last month, the new US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, said Washington
would no longer insist on a “safe harbour” clause that would effectively make participation in a global tax scheme optional, removing a key sticking point with EU officials.

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