French financial crimes officers raided Google's Paris offices on 24 May as part of an ongoing tax fraud investigation. Le Parisien writes that over 100 civil servants from the tax office and anti-fraud brigade descended on the premises, including 25 IT specialists and five financial magistrates.
The authorities' probe into Google's tax affairs began in June 2015 on suspicion of "aggravated tax fraud and organised money laundering" related to Google Europe's local subsidiary failing to pay its fair share of taxes in France.
A finance ministry official told Reuters in February that France would seek as much as EUR 1.6 billion in back-taxes from the group, which is facing similar investigations elsewhere in Europe. In January it settled a UK tax claim with a GBP 130 million payment. Google repeated its assertion that it follows the law in every country it operates.
