Google Agrees to Pay $185 Million in U.K. Tax Settlement
- Opposition politicians call arrangement a `sweetheart deal'
- British tax authority says Google is offering full amount due
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Google parent Alphabet Inc. has agreed to pay 130 million pounds ($185 million) in a tax settlement with U.K. authorities, setting off a backlash as opposition politicians questioned the government’s handling of the case.
Google will adopt a new approach for U.K. taxes, and the settlement covers taxes going back to 2005, the company said Friday in an e-mailed statement. Alphabet, which owns the Google search engine, has been criticized for paying a fraction of the taxes due on sales in the U.K. For example, the tech giant paid $16 million in U.K. corporation tax from 2006 to 2011 on $18 billion of revenue, according to a panel in 2013.