1 July, AtoZForex – After series of tax investigations related to Google, recently it was announced that the Spanish tax inspectors searched Google offices located in Madrid for possible violations of the Spanish Law regarding tax payment. The tax inspectors raided the company’s headquarters and campus in the Spanish capital. As reported, the investigators were looking evidence of taxation which is less than required considering the firm’s activity in Spain.
Spanish tax inspectors searched Google offices: why?
The probe involved potential evasions of particularly the value-added tax and other possible levies. A spokeswoman of Google stated that this case was strictly an administrative manner and not a criminal one:
“We comply with the tax law in Spain, as in every other country in which we operate,” Google said in a statement. “We are cooperating fully with the authorities in Madrid to answer their questions, as always.”
This is not the first time of Google having issues with tax inspectors. The raid in Spain followed an investigation in May in the Google headquarters in Paris. After tax inspectors searched the offices, French authorities have sought more than $1.12 billion from the firm. That time another Google spokesman stated that company is properly cooperating with French authorities and that Google complies fully with the French law.
Other large tax investigations
Meanwhile, Italy is pursuing Google for almost around €300 million in back taxes. So the French case was one of the biggest in terms of authorities seeking back taxes and tax-evasion against not only Google but other large companies as well. However, the Google spokesperson stated that the firm complies with the tax laws in every country where and it continues to cooperate with Italian authorities.
The executive arm of European Union is also currently investigating alleged tax deals with Apple and Amazon.com Inc. Those investigations could lead to orders which will force companies to repay years and years of back taxes! However, both firms deny receiving any specific treatment.
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