On April 15, 2020, OECD released the report titled “Tax and Fiscal Policy in Response to the Coronavirus Crisis: Strengthening Confidence and Resilience” (the “COVID-19 Response”). The COVID-19 Response discussed the decisive action many governments have taken to contain and mitigate the spread of the virus and to limit the adverse impacts on their citizens
Digital Economy
G20 Agrees on Framework for Pillars One and Two and Targets 2023 Effective Date
On July 10, 2021, the G20 endorsed a broad framework to advance Pillars One and Two, which includes an aggressive timetable for bringing the new rules into force in 2023. The endorsement came in a Communiqué, which approved the July 1 statement by the 139-country Inclusive Framework. The G20 agreement represents a political consensus on…
The Elusive “Amount A”
For over a decade, countries have been looking for ways to tax the digital economy. On July 1, 130 countries announced an agreement that would provide a new taxing right to enable a country to tax a portion of digital profits even in the absence of traditional taxable nexus with the country. This new taxing right is known as “Amount A”. The quantum of Amount A remained a mystery until the publication of the OECD’s “Statement on a Two-Pillar Solution to Address the Tax Challenges Arising From the Digitalisation of the Economy” on July 1, 2021 (the “Statement”) which quantified Amount A to be “between 20-30% of residual profit defined as profit in excess of 10% of revenue” for in-scope enterprises. Although this quantum of Amount A represents a political compromise, a solid theoretical basis underlying that compromise is essential to sustaining consensus.
The early proposals to modify profit allocation and nexus rules for the digital economy enterprises, which ultimately produced Amount A, strived to be based on certain subjective criteria, including the concepts of user participation, marketing intangibles and/or the concept of significant economic presence. The contemplated methods for profit allocation were the Modified Residual Profit Split method, Fractional Apportionment method, and Distribution-based approaches, along with the options for business line and regional segmentation. However, the criteria and methods of the early proposals are nowhere to be found to found in the OECD July 2021 Statement, leaving many questions about Amount A still unanswered. While the final compromise on Pillar One eliminates the focus on digital economy and shifts instead to high profitability when defining in-scope MNEs, the “digital essence” still surrounds Amount A. For one thing, the introduction to the Statement continues to refer to the “two-pillar solution to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy.” Moreover, a widely accepted assumption in the final Pillar One negotiations is that high profits are generated by intangibles and those are increasingly concentrated with digital businesses. Therefore, an analysis of Amount A cannot be divorced from the analysis of the factors that contribute to the digital economy.Continue Reading The Elusive “Amount A”
One Small Step but (Perhaps) One Giant Leap for Global Tax Reform: The G7 Agrees on a Broad Framework for Pillar One and Two
On June 5, 2021, the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the G7 countries issued a Communiqué announcing their agreement on the conceptual framework for a substantial revision to global tax policy (the “Communiqué”). The Communiqué puts the G7’s stamp of approval on recent efforts by the OECD (supported by a big push by…
New Tax Transparency Rules for Digital Platforms (Update) and More
As indicated in an earlier post, the EU Commission had proposed in July to amend the Directive on Administrative Cooperation, to extend the EU tax transparency rules to digital platforms. The Member States have now agreed on the proposal. The agreed proposal on administrative cooperation (DAC 7) will ensure that Member States automatically exchange information on the revenues generated by sellers on digital platforms, whether the platform is located in the EU or not.
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Tax Challenges Arising from Digitalisation, Report on the OECD’s Pillar One Blueprint: Executive Summary
Addressing the tax challenges arising from the digitalization of the economy has been a top priority of the OECD since 2015. In January 2019, the OECD agreed to examine proposals in two pillars. Pillar One is focused on nexus and profit allocation whereas Pillar Two is focused on global minimum tax. In July 2020 the OECD was mandated to produce reports on the Blueprints of Pillar One and Pillar Two by October 2020.
According to the OECD, in an increasingly digital age, businesses are able to generate profits through participation in the economic life of a jurisdiction with or without the benefit of a local physical presence, and this should be reflected in the design of nexus rules. The Pillar One Blueprint proposes to allocate a portion of residual profit of in-scope businesses to market or user jurisdictions (“Amount A”) generally without regard to physical presence.
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The Digital Industry in the EU Spotlight
This week is a busy week for the digital industry. The EU Court of Justice is closing two cases involving digital-economy giants. At the same time, the EU Commission released its new Tax Package covering three separate but related initiatives: a Tax Action Plan (25 distinct actions) to make taxation “simpler, fairer and better attuned to the modern economy over the coming years,” a proposal on administrative cooperation (“DAC 7”) extending EU tax transparency rules to digital platforms, and a Communication on tax good governance proposing a reform of the Code of Conduct, which addresses tax competition and tackles harmful tax practices within the EU. DAC 7 and the new transparency rules will directly impact the digital industry.
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