Google faces €1.1bn French tax ruling over Irish HQ

Google will find out if it owes over €1.1bn in back taxes to France through using an Irish company, just days after it was slapped with a record competition fine by the EU.

Paris judges may rule today whether Alphabet’s Google illegally dodged French taxes by routing sales in the country out of Ireland. The case hinges on whether Google’s European headquarters in Ireland should be taxed as if it also has a permanent base in France.

“The backlash has been unrelenting because tax populism and Google-bashing are on the rise among certain politicians,” said Maximilien Jazani, a tax lawyer in Paris. The case could have “extremely harmful” side effects because any change in how tax law is interpreted would apply to all companies and could deter investment in France, he said.