An agreement has been reached between the English tax authorities and Google. The Mountain View colossus will pay 130 million pounds, a good 170 million euros, de facto closing the tax conflicts with the United Kingdom concerning an accusation of tax avoidance concerning the activity of the Californian company on British soil from 2005 to today.
The deal was signed between Alphabet, the Google subsidiary that handles its search technology, biotech (Calico), financial investments (Google Ventures, Google Capital) and research (Google X Lab and Nest Labs), and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
According to a study carried out in 2013, between 2006 and 2011 Google would have paid only 16 million dollars in taxes on a total turnover of 18 billion dollars.
The news is causing quite a stir in the UK. If Finance Minister George Osborne celebrated the agreement as a victory, for the opposition the amount that the American company will have to pay is absolutely "ridiculous", calling the agreement the "Sweetheart deal". The reason is obvious, "The amount should have been at least ten times higher," commented the Labor Party.
"From now on we will pay taxes based on the turnover generated on the English advertising activity, which reflects the size and scope of our activities in the country," reads the official Google document.
The agreement follows the one recently stipulated by Italy with Apple according to which Tim Cook's company will settle the pending with the Italian tax authorities, paying 318 million euros.
