Google won its fight against a 1.12 billion-euro ($1.3 billion) French tax bill after a court rejected claims the company abused loopholes to avoid paying its fair share.
Google didn't illegally dodge French taxes during the period 2005-2010 by routing sales in the country out of Ireland, the Paris administrative court decided Wednesday. Judges ruled that Google's European headquarters in Ireland can't be taxed as if it also has a permanent base in France, as requested by the nation's administration.
"Google Ireland Ltd. isn't taxable in France over the period 2005-2010," the court said in a statement. French tax administrators didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Paris judges ruled that the conditions to tax Google Ireland as if it had a permanent establishment in France weren't met as Google France didn't have the sufficient autonomy from the Irish headquarters.
Google also recently struck a 306 million-euro settlement with Italian tax authorities.