NEW YORK — When it comes to the huge profits of US technology giants, Europe wants a slice of the cake.
Google on Thursday became the latest company to agree to pay back taxes, in this case 306 million euros, or $334 million, to Italian authorities for its operations in the country from 2002 to 2015.
Under a similar agreement in late 2015, Apple agreed to pay Italy $344 million in back taxes.
But Apple and the Irish government are appealing a separate $14 billion tax charge levied by the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, which said the company owed more tax on its businesses in Ireland.
As European lawmakers grapple with how much tax technology companies should pay on their overseas operations, industry executives are considering repatriating hundreds of billions of dollars under the Trump administration’s proposed “tax holiday,’’ which would shrink the current levy of 35 percent, before deductions, on such income.
US multinationals now hold an estimated $2.6 trillion overseas, most of it from tech companies’ global operations, and a reduction in the tax rate could inspire them to return a sizable amount of cash to the United States.
While changes to the tax system are at an early stage in Washington, some European policy makers worry that such repatriation would allow US companies to avoid paying their fair share of tax in Europe, an accusation that tech industry officials reject.
Despite this potential sour point between the United States and Europe, politicians worldwide have joined forces to revamp the global tax system as a way to force multinational companies to pay more tax on their foreign operations and to restrict the transfer of global profit to low-tax havens like Ireland and Bermuda.
On Thursday, Google confirmed that it would pay the back taxes to Italy, on top of what it already paid during 13 years of operations through 2015.
Last year, the search giant also handed over $168 million in a similar settlement with British tax authorities, although critics said that the clawback should have been bigger.
Attention will now turn to an investigation by French tax authorities that could lead to a bill this year of more than $1 billion for Google. The company says that it has paid its fair share in France but that it is cooperating with the inquiry.
