Investigators flood Google’s Paris HQ in tax raid
French authorities have raided internet company Google’s Paris headquarters as a national tax case against the firm appears to gain momentum.
The breach, taking place in the early hours of Tuesday morning is related to an inquiry probing the company as part of a €1.6bn tax fraud case, according to Reuters.
The company has long employed methods to lessen its financial outputs to the extent that the process of chasing tax from seemingly omnipresent multinational companies was branded the 'Google Tax'.
100 investigators participated in the raid in response to the company’s efforts to alleviate its tax bill, especially in European nations, by funnelling profits through countries with minimal tax rates.
Such behaviour has brought it into limelight internationally, but especially the UK with chancellor George Osborne clawing back £130m in back taxes from the company – a figure criticised by many considering the company’s dominance of the internet.