European governments are attacking American businesses trying to get as much tax money as possible. The latest leader in this witchhunt is France. They are not only going after companies for large civil taxes but they are at going after the businesses and the employees of the business for criminal penalties and possibly jail. Leading the list are Google, McDonald’s and Bookings.com. All these companies have some relationship to France by having services sold through subsidiaries, but the French do not care about legal structures of business. They just want their tax!
This sounds a lot like many State governments. New Jersey is always trying to find “nexus” to pull in out-of-state businesses as being subject to New Jersey taxes. Also any business located in New Jersey is subject to grueling sales and use tax audits and lengthy appeals and court hearings. It is a real problem particularly when the company tries to handle it themselves or have an accountant represent them in the tax audit process instead of a tax attorney.
