French government may file claims of Google for 1 billion euros

Google’s hard times in France. The government of this country sided with the French media, which require the "Corporation of Good" money for the right to work with the materials of newspapers and magazines that fall into Google News. Moreover, the situation is becoming more serious. After both the French government and the media realized that the corporation would not pay, the tax authorities of this country undertook to investigate the financial schemes of the company.

And there is something to do there. The fact is that Google in Europe, like many other companies, use quite interesting schemes of "optimization" of financial flows. Offshore schemes are involved in such schemes, which allows companies to save money without paying taxes in full. Nothing illegal, but still, the French tax authorities are unhappy. Indeed, millions of dollars do not reach the country's budget, which would now be useful to France.

The weekly Canard Enchain published an article claiming that the French government is now about to file Google tax claims worth about a billion euros. This is a tangible amount even for such a large company as Google. At the same time, the official authorities do not comment on these rumors, but they do not refute either.

It is worth noting that Google first heard about tax claims at a meeting with the current president of France. Let me remind you that Eric Schmidt was present at that meeting, who went to France to clear up the mess with news and taxes. The French president said that if the media problem is not resolved by the end of the year, the French government will have complaints against the corporation.

Well, the essence of the claims has already been described above - this is 1 billion euros. So either pay the media (and it is not yet clear how much is at stake), or pay French tax officials 1 billion. It is worth noting that losing France as a market for the corporation is unprofitable. Last year, Google earned in this country from 1.25 to 1.4 billion euros. And taxes were paid only 5 million euros. Actually, it is not necessary to be surprised that the tax service of France has any questions.

Via AFP