The French and Dutch authorities have reportedly raided the Paris and Amsterdam offices of streaming giant Netflix today. indicates the raid is part of an investigation into alleged tax fraud and off-the-books work. France’s National Financial Prosecutor’s office (PNF), a special unit for high-profile white-collar crime, has been conducting the investigation.
The company is also under investigation for tax filings for 2019, 2020 and 2021. Co-operation between the two countries had been going on for “many months”. A French outlet last year indicated that until 2021, Netflix in France minimised its tax by declaring its turnover generated in France to the Netherlands.
When that arrangement was scrapped, declared turnover in France jumped from just €47.1 million in 2020 to €1.2 billion in 2021.
Investigators are trying to determine if Netflix continued to attempt to minimise its profits after 2021. The aim of the investigation has been to discover how the alleged tax fraud had been implemented internally..