Following the incident of French authorities raiding Google's offices in Paris, the company has experienced a similar situation at its offices in Spain. Tax authorities raided Google's headquarters last week in search of evidence linking the company to possible tax evasion, according to Spanish media reports.
The raid took place on Thursday morning, June 30, at Google's "Madrid Campus," as the company calls its local headquarters.
The authorities were looking for unpaid VAT from Google. Initially, Google employees refused entry to the tax authorities, but not for long. The inspection lasted until 6:30 pm.
A Google spokesperson said after the investigation that the company complies with local tax laws and will cooperate with Spanish tax authorities.
At the end of May, French authorities raided the company's headquarters in Paris, as they claim that Google owes France 1.6 billion euros.
Earlier this year, Google also had problems with British authorities, who accused the company of not paying taxes in recent years. So Google agreed to pay 130 million pounds for the last ten years. However, French authorities do not seem so keen on a similar settlement.
All three countries are investigating Google for the same reason. Like many other multinational companies, Google directs its profits from the three countries to its base in Ireland because the country has the lowest tax rates in Europe.
