Wednesday, November 6, 2024 - In a significant escalation of a tax fraud investigation, French and Dutch authorities conducted coordinated raids on Netflix offices in Paris and Amsterdam on Tuesday, according to a judicial source. The probe, which began in November 2022, is examining allegations of "covering up serious tax fraud and off-the-books work" within the global streaming giant.
Specialized financial investigators from both countries
carried out the raids, focusing on Netflix's European headquarters in
Amsterdam. The company is already under scrutiny in France for its tax filings
between 2019 and 2021.
Netflix has maintained that it complies with tax regulations
across all countries of operation. However, French news outlet La
Lettre A previously reported that until 2021, Netflix structured its
French operations in a way that saw subscribers sign contracts through a Dutch
subsidiary, reducing its tax obligations in France. This arrangement reportedly
led Netflix to pay less than €1 million in taxes to the French government for
2019 and 2020.
The ongoing investigation seeks to determine if Netflix
continued any practices that may have illegally minimized its declared profits
in France, affecting its tax bill. Netflix reported over $9.8 billion in global
revenue and a net profit of $2.4 billion from its 282 million subscribers in
the third quarter of this year alone.
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