Google’s offices in Paris target search of the French authorities – publico

 
         

                 

                         
                     

                         
                     

                         

                 

 
 

Google’s offices in Paris were targeted by the French authorities search in the morning on Tuesday, as part of a preliminary investigation where investigating crimes for aggravated tax fraud and money laundering.

the prosecutor’s office confirmed in a statement that the raid involved members of the central unit of the fight against corruption and financial and tax offenses, with the presence of 25 computer experts in the local offices of the Internet giant.

the survey will be running already since June 16 last year. And the authorities are investigating whether the Irish Google company has a permanent presence in France and, “if not to declare a part of its activities carried out in France, failed to fulfill its tax obligations, in particular in respect of IRC and VAT”. It is not the first time Google’s offices in the French capital, which also took place in June 2011.

The Google Europe is headquartered in Ireland, with whom France has an agreement to avoid double taxation. According to the newspaper Le Monde , the Convention provides that if a branch of an Irish company has in France a ‘permanent establishment’, in effect the next fiscal regime applied to French companies.

the journal Le Monde writes that the French tax authorities will be to complain to Google EUR 1600 million in taxes to Google, a value that is not officially confirmed by the French tax authority, which evokes tax secrecy .

we came react in a statement ensuring that complies with French law and that is to “cooperate fully with the authorities to answer their questions,” quotes the British the Guardian remembering another tax investigation that the US giant was targeted in the UK, which resulted in an agreement with the British authorities for the company to pay 130 million pounds (about EUR 172 million) in taxes.

in the UK, multinationals like Amazon and Starbucks have been under investigation by British authorities for practices of “tax optimization”.

the fight against aggressive tax practices of multinationals in Europe has led the European Parliament to press the Commission and the Council to place the issue on the agenda, to increase tax cooperation between countries to force a company to pay taxes in the country where you actually get profits and develops the activity.