Google has won a legal battle and is not liable to pay $1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in back taxes demanded by the French authorities. The courts stated the company did not have a “permanent establishment” in France to justify the large amount of money.
The Paris court further added that Google did not illegally dodge French taxes by routing sales in the country out of Ireland, the Paris. It ruled that Google Ireland Limited was not subject to corporate and value-added taxes for the period 2005-2010, striking down the tax administration’s demands for back payments, according to a report from Reuters. The French finance ministry is expected to appeal the decision.
Last month, the European Commission fined Google 2.42 billion euro for breaching EU antitrust rules.