Google should be let off €1.1bn tax order, adviser tells French court

Google should be let off the hook from a €1.12 billion tax recovery order in France even though fiscal authorities in the country are seeking to recoup that amount, according to an adviser at the Paris administrative court.

Google Ireland does not have a permanent establishment in France that would force the company to pay the back taxes claimed by the French administration, the adviser said at a Wednesday hearing .

“The current case highlights the weaknesses of the current legal basis,” the adviser said in a non-binding opinion on the case, according to reports. The ruling will be handed down by mid-July.

In a parallel criminal case, French prosecutors raided the Alphabet unit’s Paris office in May 2016 after months of preparation spent offline to prevent leaks. The ongoing criminal probe seeks to verify whether Google’s Irish unit has permanent establishment in France and whether the firm failed to declare part of its income in the country. – (Bloomberg)