The French Finance Ministry confirmed last night that it’s seeking €1.6bn in back taxes from Google, the first time a specific figure has been quoted by official sources

The confirmation comes a few weeks after France’s Finance Minister, Michel Sapin, ruled out striking any deal with the US search engine as the British government recently, noting the sums at stake were far higher in France than in Britain.

The revelation maintains the focus of other EU governments about how companies like Google, with significant operations in their own jurisdictions, benefit from the location of their European Headquarters in Ireland and from the country's lower corporation tax rates.

The UK’s revenue and customs authorities confirmed to a Public Accounts Committee hearing in Westminster yesterday that its inspectors visited Google’s offices in Dublin as part of a six-year investigation into how profits generated in Britain were filtered through Ireland. 

The Committee itself expressed concerns to the tax officials that the £130m settlement agreed with Google, seemed disproportionately small compared to what other countries would demand.

Its investigation had reinforced its concerns that the rules governing where corporation tax is paid by multinational companies "do not produce a fair outcome."

The investigation also found that Google used "the deeply unconvincing argument that its sales to UK clients take place in Ireland, despite clear evidence that the vast majority of sales activity takes places in the UK."