French Tax Man Wants a Big Bite of Google Revenue

Hollande and company reportedly want one billion euros. Well, who doesn't?

The French tax office will be handing Google a €1bn tax bill to make up for revenues from France routed through Google Ireland, claims French weekly Le Canard Enchaîné*.

An inquiry into Google's Transfer Pricing—how profits and revenues are moved across borders by the corporation—has just finished and according to Le Canard, which does not reveal the source of the figure, the French government will be be demanding around a billion euros from Google France. The article in Le Canard was quoted in French daily Le Monde, which calculated that Google France paid only €5m in corporation tax to the French government in 2011 on a turnover of approx €1.4bn.

Apparently French President Francois Hollande raised the question of the tax sting at his meeting with Google chief Eric Schmidt on Monday.