McDonalds to pay France $1.3 billion in tax evasion case: India to strengthen the mechanism
International taxation is witnessing drastic changes across the globe. The same is further going to rise after the recent Mcdonald Case in France. India is further strengthening the system to further strongly regulate the cases of tax evasion in transfer pricing cases.
Let us know about these recent developments.
1. McDonald’s will pay 1.25 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in France to avoid a legal case over tax evasion between 2009 and 2020, under an agreement approved by Court. of Justice of Paris.
2. President of the Court, Stephane Noel confirmed the second-biggest tax settlement in French history, made up of a 508-million-euro fine and 737 million euros in back taxes already agreed in May, years after McDonald’s was accused of reporting artificially low profits to reduce its tax bill.
3. Investigators had since 2014 been probing whether brand fees paid by McDonald’s French operation to its European parent company located in lower tax Luxembourg for use of the chain’s brand in fact served to artificially slash its profits.
4. The brand fees could surprisingly double from one McDonald’s branch to the next without any justification at all, which made it possible to prove that it was done exclusively for tax reasons.
5. Prosecutors had opened an official probe in 2016 after union officials reported the company for covering up tax evasion.
6. On condition of payment of the fine, the validation of the agreement means the end of the prosecution. McDonald’s would pay 2.5 times the amount of tax avoided. This agreement ends the tax case and a judicial investigation without acknowledging fault.
7. France’s biggest-ever tax fine dates to 2020, when aircraft builder Airbus had to cough up 2.1 billion euros.
|
|