Google Ireland agrees to pay $245M in backdated tax

Alphabet Inc.’s Google Ireland said it would pay 218 million euros ($245 million) in backdated corporation tax to Irish authorities, according to the company’s latest financial statement.

“The company agreed to the resolution of certain tax matters relating to prior years,” Google Ireland wrote in the documents, filed with the Irish registrar of companies on Thursday.

Although disclosed in the financial statement for the year ended Dec. 31, 2020, the company said the agreement was made “subsequent to year-end.”

The Irish Times first reported the figure. A spokesperson for Google in Europe didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ireland has become the base of European operations for several of the largest international companies, including Google, Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook, in part because of its low rate of corporation tax — something the Group of Seven rich nations intends to reform.

In the financial statement, Google also said it was “monitoring developments in global corporate tax reform that could potentially see the income tax rate increase in future years.”

— With assistance from Jillian Deutsch and Peter Flanagan