14 DAY TRIAL // There's no shortage of companies or even countries wanting to get their hands on some of Google's wealth, sometimes rightfully so, though, most of the times, the claims are a little weak. Now, Turkey is having a go at it by claiming that Google owes the country 71 million Turkish Lira (approx. €32 million or US $47 million) in back taxes. The country claims that, since Google has an office in Turkey, it should pay taxes for the business it does there.
TechCrunch cites local media that says the government believes that Google is eligible to pay taxes for the advertising it sells in the country and to local businesses. This claim is backed by the fact that Google has offices there and even a subsidiary registered in Turkey. The local government says it is more than enough to prove that the company does business in the country, despite the fact that all of the financial transactions are done through Google's headquarters in Ireland.
Google, in fact, runs its European operations from Ireland and most of the business is handled from there. As such, the company says it has no intention of paying anything, as it claims that its Turkish subsidiary has no involvement in the advertising side of the business. The company's ad network, which serves the ads and handles the billing and the advertisers, is based in Ireland, or so it says.
Google has stated that it operates in accordance with the tax laws of every country it has a presence in and this is true for Turkey as well. It also says that it is in talks with the Turkish government on the matter. Things may not be so clear-cut as it seems, for the company Google has set up in the country is titled Google Reklamcılık ve Pazarlama Ltd. Şti, which translates into Google Advertising and Marketing Ltd. And, because the subsidiary is a company on its own in the country, it looks like the government may have a strong case against Google.