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.