French prosecutors have turned up the heat in the spreading European tax war against US technology giants, with an early-morning raid on Google’s Paris office.

法国检察官升级了欧洲方面针对美国科技巨头的打击面越来越大的税收战，对谷歌(Google)的巴黎办事处发起清晨突袭。

Yesterday’s operation involved 25 data experts and was part of a preliminary investigation opened in June last year, the French authorities said.

法国当局称，昨日的行动涉及25名数据专家，并且是去年6月启动的初步调查的一部分。

It came as European authorities attempt to crack down on the use of complex tax-avoidance schemes by US and other multinational companies to shift profits to low-tax jurisdictions.

目前，欧洲当局正试图打击美国等国家的跨国公司利用复杂的避税计划把利润转移到低税的司法管辖区。

France has led the charge — it has previously raided Google and Microsoft — while Italian authorities claimed victory with a 318m tax settlement from Apple late last year and also have Google in their sights.

法国冲在最前面，该国当局此前对谷歌和微软(Microsoft)发起过突击搜查，而意大利当局声称，去年末与苹果(Apple)就避税案达成的3.18亿欧元和解是一个胜利，同时该国也盯上了谷歌。

Reports have suggested that the French state is seeking as much as 1.6bn in back taxes from Google. The US group’s European headquarters is in Dublin and it channels profits through Ireland, resulting in a payment of only 5m in corporate tax in France in 2014 against revenues that year of 225.4m, according to company filings.

媒体报道认为，法国政府正寻求从谷歌追缴高达16亿欧元的税款。这家美国集团的欧洲总部设在都柏林，根据该公司的监管申报文件，它通过爱尔兰转移利润，使其2014年在法国仅缴企业税500万欧元，而当年营收达到2.254亿欧元。

France’s aggressive stance stands in stark contrast to the tax accommodation that Google struck with the UK this year. Though Britain is the internet company’s second-biggest market, it reached a settlement that will require it to pay only ￡130m in back taxes dating back to 2005, an amount that was condemned as a “sweetheart deal” by the UK’s opposition Labour party.

法国咄咄逼人的姿态与英国今年早些时候同谷歌达成的税收协议形成鲜明对比。虽然英国是这家互联网公司的第二大市场，但它达成的和解意味着，它仅需补缴可追溯至2005年的1.30亿英镑税款。英国反对党工党谴责这一税款金额为“甜心交易”。

In February, Michel Sapin, French finance minister, ruled out any settlement and said the amount Google would have to hand over would be “way -bigger” than the UK deal.

今年2月，法国财长米歇尔•萨潘(Michel Sapin)排除了任何和解，称谷歌将不得不补缴比英国协议“多得多”的税款。

In a statement, the French financial prosecutor’s office said: “The investigation aims to verify whether Google -Ireland Ltd has a permanent base in France and if, by not declaring parts of its activities carried out in France, it failed its fiscal obligations, including on corporate tax and value added tax.”

法国金融检察官办公室在一份声明中表示：“调查的目的是核实谷歌爱尔兰公司是否在法国有一个永久基地，以及它是否通过不申报自己在法国开展的一部分活动，未能履行财政义务，包括企业税和增值税两方面。”

The dispute revives a long-running French attempt to force internet companies to pay more tax. Prosecutors raided Google’s Paris office in 2011 as part of a similar investigation. The company is likely to argue that it would not have extra tax to pay even if its Irish business was found to trade in France.

这场纠纷复活了法国的一个长期企图，目的是迫使互联网公司缴纳更多的税。检方曾在2011年突击搜查谷歌的巴黎办事处，作为一项类似调查的一部分。该公司很可能会主张，即使其爱尔兰公司被发现在法国开展经营，它也不会有额外的税款需要补缴。

Similar arguments have been raging in Australia, where Google recently announced that it had restructured so it would book more revenues in the country, rather than in Singapore.

类似的主张已在澳大利亚使用过。谷歌最近宣布，它已完成重组，以便把更多营收在澳大利亚入账，而不是在新加坡。

Google said: “We comply with the tax law in France, as in every other country in which we operate. We are co-operating fully with the authorities in Paris to answer their questions, as always.”

谷歌表示：“我们遵守法国的税法，就像在我们开展经营的其它每个国家一样。我们正在一如既往地与巴黎当局全面合作，回答他们的问题。”

The European Commission is pursuing an investigation of its own into whether some EU members used illegal state aid when giving tax breaks to multinational companies, including Apple, Amazon and McDonald’s.

欧盟委员会(European Commission)正在推进自己的调查，目的是查明某些欧盟成员国给予苹果、亚马逊(Amazon)和麦当劳(McDonald’s)等跨国公司税收优惠的行为，是否构成非法的政府援助。