Police raided Mickey D’s headquarters outside of Paris on May 18 as part of an investigation into “aggravated tax fraud and money-laundering”, reports the Associated Press.
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Cops from the device fighting crime and economic offense took part within the raid, which focused McDonald’s MCD, +0.29% France headquarters in Guyancourt, west of Paris. French authorities suspect the company of avoiding taxes by sending earnings to Luxembourg.
The Oak Brook, Illinois-based company has said it pays all its income taxes in France in accordance with current legislation.
French investigators are seeking information about whether Google has been evading its tax obligations.
On Thursday, the burger chain told the AFP news agency that it had “spoken at length on the issue” and had “nothing to add at this stage”.
A spokesman for McDonald’s confirmed the company was “co-operating fully with authorities on this matter”. Previously, trade union representatives filed a complaint accusing the company of organized tax evasion. Last month, business magazine L’Expansion said that the government had sent the company a 300-million-euro bill for unpaid taxes, including 100 million in fines.
It said the company had 73,000 workers in France spread over almost 1,400 restaurants.
Documents and computers were seized during the raid, a police officer said.
Several multinational firms have come under fire recently for paying extremely low taxes by shifting revenue across borders in an often complex web of financial arrangements.
Claims of tax avoidance by multinational corporations have pitted European countries against one another, and prompted European Union officials to investigate whether some of the bloc’s members are dangling unfair tax inducements to attract companies.
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The US Internet giant was already suspected of owing 1.6 billion euros (1.7 billion USD) in back taxes. Considering the very heavy fines paid by European companies to the USA government in recent years, many hoped that the European Union (EU) and its member states will act rigorously as well.
