Three companies affiliated with the search engine Google have been investigated for tax fraud in China, Thursday's Economic Daily reported, citing sources with China's tax authority.
The companies have been found using fake invoices, and accounting and business tax irregularities were also discovered that involved more than 40 million yuan (6.06 million U.S. dollars), the newspaper said.
The authority has asked the companies to correct their wrongdoings, and has retrieved the money.
Google is also under investigation for tax evasion, the newspaper said.
In October 2007, two Google-affiliated companies registered in Beijing were investigated for tax evasion involving more than 20 million yuan.
Google has not responded to an interview request by e-mail as of 11 p.m.
