Google's Paris offices raided over €1.3bn tax claims

The French government really doesn't seem to like Google...

Google's Paris offices have been raided by up to 100 tax officials as the French government steps up its campaign against the company over claims that it has failed to pay as much as £1.3bn in tax.

The raids have been confirmed by French regulators. Google says that it is cooperating with the authorities.

At issue is the way in which Google is structured in Europe in order to minimise its tax obligations. Amazon, Starbucks and many other companies (and rock band U2) exploit differences in European states' tax laws in order to minimise the level of tax they have to pay. They all claim that they comply with the letter of EU and EU states' tax laws.

"We comply with French law and are cooperating fully with the authorities to answer their questions," it said in a statement.

The move comes amid growing scrutiny of Google, and other big companies, in Europe over both tax and competition concerns.

Last year the UK government was criticised for agreeing a £130m deal with Google over what it claimed were unpaid taxes, a fraction of what campaigners claimed Google owed.

More recently, the European Commission (EC) filed a statement of objections against Google claiming that it had abused its dominance in the online search market in order to favour its own services at the expense of others. Google faces a fine of as much as €3bn if it cannot convince the regulators this is not the case.

Google is also at loggerheads with French authorities over the so-called Right to be Forgotten after the nation's privacy watchdog, CNIL, ruled that requests must be applied to the company's entire search database globally, not just within the jurisdiction of France or even the EU.

However, the company has appealed to the highest court in France, arguing that the ruling would create a dangerous precedent and block access to search results in regions where that access is perfectly legal.

"As a matter of law and principle, we disagree with this demand. We comply with the laws of the countries in which we operate," Kent Walker, senior vice president and general counsel at the company said last week.