France applies a tax to international giants …

The French government has confirmed that it will apply a 3% tax on the turnover of large multinationals in the digital sector. The measure was passed in July 2019 but will be retroactive to the last two months of 2020, after a lively controversy with the United States, which threatened to apply customs duties to French products imported into this country.

France has thus become a pioneer in the taxation of large multinational Internet companies, the GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple), the benefits of which escape many tax administrations around the world.

The confirmation was made by the French Ministry of the Economy, which, through a source cited by the French press, said that “Companies subject to this tax have received a tax notification for 2020 payments”.

However, the move leaves the Elisha Palace exposed for the White House to apply sanctions amid the transition from President-elect Jo Biden to incumbent Donald Trump.

Washington considers this tax to be discriminatory for American businesses. Trump had threatened France to apply 100% tariffs on certain French products, such as cheese or beauty products.

He had even already decided to apply tariffs of 25% on French wines for the subsidies received by the European Airbus.

But In January, the two allies agreed to a truce provide an opportunity for the negotiations led by the OECD to create a global tax on multinationals. Paris froze its tax and Washington refrained from imposing sanctions.

However, these negotiations failed in October, canceling the truce. “We had suspended the collection of the tax until the conclusion of the OECD negotiations. These negotiations failed, we will therefore impose a tax on the digital giants next December”, warned the French Minister of the Economy Bruno mid-October. The mayor.