Giants of the internet, at the sight of the G20: the summit will define the collection of taxes

Last year, Europeans and Americans could not agree on this project, but G20 members committed to "working together to find a consensual solution for 2020". Since then, discussions have progressed.

GAFA, the acronym for the four industry giants (Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple), are often criticized for their tax optimization practices. They generally do not pay taxes in countries where they have no offices or physical presence, although they have millions of users.

The idea that arises is to tax these companies according to their weight in a specific market and not according to the location of their head officeexplains the Nikkei without citing sources.

The principle is expected to be validated by G20 ministers and central bank governments on April 8-9 in Fukuoka, before the summit in Osaka at the end of the month. The aim is to reach a final agreement in 2020.

We still have to define the criteria to calculate the tax burden of these giants of the Internet. The Japanese newspaper highlights the possibility of relying on revenue generated by user data or business volume by country and user name.

The Economic Development and Cooperation Organization (OECD) will be responsible for developing the method and conditions for implementation.

The Nikkei gives the example of Facebook, which has more than 1,400 million subscribers, including 490 million in Asia-Pacific, 270 million in Europe and 180 in North America. he pays most of his taxes in Ireland to take advantage of the low level of taxation in the country.

The G20 also wants to propose the establishment of a minimum corporate tax that governments should respect to fight against tax havens.

Faced with difficulties in reaching an agreement within the OECD, or even the European Union (where Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and Finland are hesitant), countries such as France, Spain and the United Kingdom have announced their intention to unilaterally tax GAFA as of this year.