Facebook to pay $125 million in back taxes and penalties to French govt

Facebook’s French subsidiary has agreed to pay 106 million euros ($125 million) in back taxes and penalties following persistent government efforts to get online giants to pay more taxes where they make their money.

The agreement came after French tax authorities carried out an extensive audit of a decade of Facebook’s operations in the country, from 2009-2018, a company spokesperson said Monday.

The spokesperson, who was not authorized to be publicly named according to Facebook policy, said the company takes its tax obligations seriously wherever it operates.

The French tax department would not comment on the deal, citing the right to tax secrecy.