Multinationals will have to pay aminimum tax of 15%. And they will have to do it where they conduct their activities and not where they have their registered office.
“Historic agreement”. This is the comment of the vice president of the Commission Valdis Dombrovskis and the commissioner for economics Paolo Gentiloni on the announcement of the OECD in which the 136 states have sanctioned the way to the global minimum tax 15% for multinationals.
“We are back to multilateralism”, says Gentiloni. For Dombrovskis it is a ‘victory for fiscal equity and social justice, which stops the race to the bottom of corporate taxes “.
multinationals will pay a fairer share of taxes wherever they do business, adding many billions of euros to governments’ coffers globally as countries recover from the pandemic. “
In many countries, multinationals, including i giants of the web and e-commerce, in fact, they pay “negligible” taxes compared to the turnover. This is thanks to the possibility of establishing the registered office in countries considered “tax havens” in which there are very low rates.
As many as 136 countries out of 140 in the OECD / G20 Inclusive Framework have reached an agreement on the so-called minimum tax, which imposes a minimum tax of 15% on large companies
multinationals, starting with the giants of the web.
An agreement made possible, after years of intense negotiations, thanks to the accession of Ireland, Estonia and Hungary, who for a long time had opposed it. It is an agreement that especially pleases Europe, which has made a lot of effort on the subject.
The agreement will make it possible to guarantee the application of a minimum tax rate of 15% to multinational companies starting from 2023. The only four countries that have not joined are Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The remaining 136 who said ‘yes, including Italy, “represent” over 90% of world GDP “, specifies the OECD, adding that the agreement will allow” to re-allocate the benefits for over 125 billion dollars made by 100 multinational companies among the largest and most profitable in the world “.
“I welcome today’s agreement on comprehensive tax reform. This is it a historic moment. This is an important step towards making our global tax system fairer, “commented the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. “The European Commission has strongly supported this international effort. I would like to thank Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni and his services for their tireless work in this regard,” added the European President.
The Secretary General of the OECD, Mathias Cormann, pays tribute to what he considers a “great victory for effective and balanced multilateralism”. “This is a far-reaching agreement – continues Cormann in a tweet – which guarantees that our international tax system adapts to a global economy digital “.” Now – concludes the senior manager – we must work diligently to ensure the effective implementation of this major reform “.
Target? To ensure “that these companies can honor their fair share of taxation whatever the jurisdictions in which they carry out their activities and realize benefits”. The political agreement reached in July by the members of the Inclusive Framework is thus finalized, with the aim of deeply reforming the tax rules of the planet. With the green light of Dublin, Tallinn and Budapest, the agreement is now supported by all Member countries of the OECD, the European Union and the G20. Based on two pillars, the deal is announced a few days after G20 finance ministers expected in Washington on 13 October and especially from the top of the G20 in Rome at the end of the month. The minimum tax agreement, the OECD specifies, does not aim to “put an end to tax competition” but “to set limits agreed multilaterally. It will allow countries to collect about 150 billion annually in additional revenues”.
In Italy the giants boast cables for 3.3 billion euros but in 2019 they paid only 70 million euros in taxes. To pay more, so to speak, it was Amazon with 10.9 millionin front of a turnover of one billion euros. Taxes are calculated on profits and not on revenues but these companies do not disclose how profits are divided in different countries. However, the turnover gives an idea of the volume of business. Thanks to what are called “tax optimization” techniques, the internet big names are able to pay taxes in countries where taxation is minimal or zero. Thus it is estimated that they managed to steal something like 46 billion euros from the tax authorities between 2015 and 2019. Returning to Italy, the second taxpayer turns out to be Microsoft with 16 million euros, Google (5.7 million). I am 2.3 million in taxes paid by Facebook. For E-bay it drops to 145 thousand euros. The data of is unbelievable Netflix: 6 thousand euros, less than a worker.
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