Why are multinational companies such as Apple and Google often investigated by European tax authorities?

These big companies often take advantage of some legal loopholes to transfer their registered places to cities with lower taxes, thus avoiding European tax investigations. Recently, European media reported that many technology companies such as Apple and Google will be questioned again. The main purpose of this question is to explore whether these multinational companies have tax evasion within the EU. Earlier, the European Union held a similar meeting to solicit opinions from some international companies. Some media said that the EU took turns questioning these large enterprises, which aggravated the tax pressure of these multinational enterprises. Previously, many countries imposed tax evasion fines on some large enterprises. In the future, with the continuous advancement of these surveys, more enterprises may accept similar surveys.

However, the struggle between the European Parliament and big companies has never stopped. Starbucks refused to participate in similar questions earlier and appealed the relevant results, but in the end, the court ruled that Starbucks needed to pay an additional 30 million euros in taxes. In addition, a number of multinational companies expressed their opposition to the punishment of related taxes and prosecuted them. In fact, over the years, the struggle between the EU and these big companies has never stopped, especially these Internet giants have been investigated for tax issues or market monopoly issues. Technology companies represented by Google have been fined by the European Union many times. The EU also indicated that it will strengthen the supervision of these Internet companies from Silicon Valley, and pointed out that these companies have repeatedly used their monopoly position to suppress their competitors.

Recently, EU regulators also said that they have investigated Apple's tax payment in Ireland, and this investigation also involved many multinational companies such as Starbucks and Fiat. Relevant personnel said that the design of this tax investigation is very wide, and most large enterprises established in Ireland may face tax investigation. In addition, the anti-monopoly department also said that it has sent inquiry letters to companies such as Google and Apple, asking them to explain some business practices.

According to relevant sources, the high tax rate of European enterprises is also the main reason for tax evasion of these large enterprises. For example, France and Britain began to levy digital taxes again last year, which also caused dissatisfaction in the United States. In addition, the European Union has also increased the tax on plastic packaging, ostentatiously supporting environmental protection. The core reason is to make up the fiscal deficit. This tax has been levied since this year, and the disposable plastic bag is 800 tons per ton. According to the existing data, this new tax is expected to bring 4 billion euros in tax revenue to the EU, so as to alleviate the fiscal and taxation pressure faced by the EU, and the related crackdown on waste evasion is also aimed at better making up the tax deficit.