In a move that would recoup tax payments otherwise funnelled overseas through clever accounting mechanisms, the EU is poised to begin taxing the turnover, rather than the profits, of Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon.
Bruno Le Maire, minister for the economy in France, told the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche that the proposal was for a tax between two and six percent, but that it would likely be closer to two.
The shift is meant to counter legal forms of tax avoidance practised by the big tech firms. Most recently, Amazon was in the news in August 2017 for halving its corporate tax bill despite doubling its turnover from 2016 to 2017.
It’s unclear, however, at this point whether this ruling will apply within the UK, given the looming Brexit.
Source: Europe plans special tax for Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon • The Register
