Google To Pay $185 Million To Settle UK Taxes
Google said on Friday it agreed to pay the UK tax authority 130 million pounds in back taxes, in a deal that could be considered as more than favorable for the internet giant. Google has been under pressure in recent years over its practice of channeling most profits from European clients through Ireland to Bermuda where it pays no tax on them.
In 2013, the company faced a UK parliamentary inquiry after an investigation showed the company employed hundreds of sales people in Britain despite saying it did not conduct sales in the country.
Google will adopt a new approach for U.K. taxes and the settlement covers taxes going back to 2005, the company said. Alphabet, which owns the Google search engine, has been criticized for paying a fraction of the taxes due on sales in the U.K. For example, the tech giant paid $16 million in U.K. corporation tax from 2006 to 2011 on $18 billion of revenue, according to a panel in 2013.
Separately, Apple is facing a European tax investigation that could force the iPhone maker to pay more than $8 billion in back taxes. European officials have accused the company of using subsidiaries in Ireland to avoid paying taxes on revenue generated abroad.