Google Agrees To Pay Almost $1.1Bln Under Tax Evasion Case In France

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th September, 2019) Google on Thursday agreed to 500 million euro ($553 million) as a fine to discontinue the tax evasion case filed against the US tech giant in France and 465 million euro more to French tax authorities as an additional tax.

In February 2016, reports emerged that the French authorities suspected Google of tax evasion estimated at 1.6 billion euro.

"We have put an end to the tax disputes that we had in France for many years. The settlements envisage a fine of 500 million euro announced by a court, as well as 465 million euro of additional taxes, which we agreed to pay," Google said in a statement, as quoted by the 20 minutes newspaper.

After repayment of the fine, all legal cases regarding Google's "aggravated tax evasion" brought against the company will be terminated.

In August, French Minister of Public Action and Accounts Gerald Darmanin said that France would counter tax evasion by creating a blacklist of digital companies which failed to comply with the country's fiscal regulations. The measure was met with backlash on the part of the IT giants that called it discriminatory.