Google to pay $548 mn fine in France to settle tax probe

Google has agreed to pay $548 million fine in France to settle a fiscal fraud probe that started four years ago.
Google India businessFrench investigators have been seeking to establish whether Google, whose European headquarters are based in Dublin, failed to pay its dues to the state by avoiding to declare parts of its activities in the country.

Google, part of Alphabet, pays little tax in most European countries because it reports almost all sales in Ireland. This is possible thanks to a loophole in international tax law but it hinges on staff in Dublin concluding all sales contracts.

Meanwhile, Google won a legal battle after Europe’s top court said publishers in Germany could not demand copyright fees since 2013 from the technology firm because the European Commission had not been notified of the German regulation.

The group of publishers previously said they were demanding $1.1 billion from Google-owner Alphabet in copyright fees for their news snippets and other items published by the U.S. company on the Web.

The German case underlines the battle waged by publishers seeking a share of revenues earned from the distribution of news on Alphabet services such as Google News and YouTube.

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