(02 July 2021) – A total of 130 countries have agreed a global tax reform ensuring that multinationals pay their fair share wherever they operate, but some EU states refused to sign up.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in a statement that global companies, including US behemoths Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple would be taxed at a rate of at least 15% once the deal is implemented.
But European Union low-tax countries Ireland and Hungary declined to sign up to the agreement reached, highlighting lingering divisions on global taxation.
Both countries are part of a group of EU nations also including Luxembourg and Poland that have relied on low tax rates to attract multinationals and build their economies. Ireland, the EU home to tech giants Facebook, Google and Apple, has a corporate tax rate of just 12.5%.
The new tax regime is to add some $150 billion to government coffers globally once it comes into force, which the OECD said it hoped would be in 2023. (Euractiv)