Countdown to digital tax

February 05, 2021

The OECD held a two-day conference on January 14-15 to allow stakeholders to discuss its blueprints for digital tax reform ahead of the G20/Inclusive Framework meeting later in January.

The Paris-based organisation has to find a final agreement on pillar one and pillar two by mid-2021 or nothing will stop the rise of tax nationalism around the world. A growing number of countries are imposing forms of digital taxes on technology companies to gain revenues they believe to be owed.

Yet the digital tax framework will affect more taxpayers than US corporations such as Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook. Pharmaceutical companies, for example, are concerned about the consequences for their industry given the importance of intangible assets. Here, Alice Jones, Danish Mehboob and Josh White take a look at the proposals put forward by companies such as Microsoft, Netflix and Unilever in response to the blueprints.

Highlights of the OECD consultation on pillars one and two

Microsoft warns digital tax agenda may fail on its complexity

Uber recommends the OECD rethink Amount A scope

Netflix rejects ‘political’ ring fencing in OECD digital tax blueprints

Unilever: How the OECD could simplify pillar two

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Alice Jones

Commercial Editor ITR

Alice is an editor of commercial content across Euromoney brands including International Tax Review (ITR), Managing IP (MIP), and International Financial Law Review (IFLR). She joined the commercial team in March 2022 after working as a journalist for ITR.

Danish Mehboob

Senior Reporter ITR

Danish reports on all matters of direct tax and BEPS. He covers a range of tax issues in these areas and what multinationals are doing to manage the tax burdens. Danish also specialises in tax technology and data management.

Josh White

Special Projects Editor ITR

Josh covers transfer pricing, BEPS, tax disputes and other direct tax matters for ITR’s audience. He covers a range of tax issues in these areas and how companies are dealing with them, as well as the influence of politics on tax developments.