Facebook and Google could face billions in new taxes in Asia and Latin America
Facebook and Google could face billions in new taxes in Asia and Latin America
Dozens of countries are stepping up their efforts to impose new taxes on technology giants such as Alphabet Inc. and Facebook Inc., with the hope of earning revenue from digital services as economic activity changes more and more online.
Inspired by Proposals of the European Union impose a Tax based on income. Of the technology companies instead of their profits, South Korea, India and at least seven other countries in Asia and the Pacific are exploring new taxes. Mexico, Chile and other Latin American countries are also contemplating new taxes aimed at increasing the receipts of foreign technology companies.
These taxes, which are independent of corporate income taxes that many companies already pay, are widely known as digital taxes and could add billions of dollars to companies' tax bills. They try to impose taxes on digital services sold by global companies in a given country from units located outside that country. In some cases, the proposed taxes are directed to services that include collecting data on local residents, such as targeted online advertising.
"Countries around the planet now understand that they should impose a digital tax," said Bruno Le Maire, France's finance minister, who is Lobbying throughout Europe for the tax before a meeting of EU finance ministers in November. "It's a matter of justice."
In Europe, where the digital tax has run up against the opposition, some countries have indicated that they are prepared to act unilaterally. US Treasury Chief Philip Hammond, who is scheduled to make his annual budget report on Monday, said earlier this month that his country is ready to "go only with a tax on digital services."
The efforts in Asia, the USA UU And Latin America makes it more likely that several different taxes will be imposed, even if the European proposal faces a political struggle. Europe is the largest foreign market for many technology companies, and the EU estimates that its proposal would generate around EUR 5 billion ($ 5.7 billion) annually. But digital taxes could eventually take a bigger bite in Asia, where growth is faster and there are many more Internet users.
"If we leave this issue aside, I think the nation will lose revenue," said Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah, Malaysia's deputy finance minister, at a recent event. Malaysia is considering adding digital taxes for its speech on the 2019 budget on November 2.
Opponents of digital taxes, which include pressure groups for multinationals and countries with large exports, say a patchwork of new rules that vary by country will affect smaller companies. They say that the initiatives could lead to double taxation of corporate profits that will stifle international trade and discourage investment.
Remote income
The largest technology companies in the US UU They often contribute most of their income abroad, leading other countries to explore the imposition of taxes on their income instead of profits.
Income or net sales of the
12 months ended June 30
The technology industry is opposed to the proposals. On Friday, the Information Technology Industry Council, a lobby group based in Washington, DC representing technology companies such as Google and Facebook, warned that the digital tax "represents a real and significant threat to companies in all sectors, "citing the potential for double taxation.
Google and Facebook declined to comment on the proposals.
At the center of the debate is the question of where the technological giants should pay their taxes.
According to international tax principles, revenues are taxed when value is created. For technology companies, that is not always clear. Services that include advertising and taxi reservations are now often delivered in digital form from the middle of the world, through companies that pay little local income tax.
Technology companies in the United States often report low profits and, therefore, pay little income tax in the overseas countries where they sell their digital services. This is because customers in those countries are actually buying in a unit located elsewhere, often a country with low taxes. The unit in the country is responsible for marketing and support, and the unit abroad that actually makes sales reimburses the expenses to the local unit, leaving little profit subject to taxes.
Under increasing political pressure, some technology companies, including
Amazon.com
Inc.,
Facebook and Google, Has recently began to declare More income in the countries where they do business. But they also declare more expenses at the local level, which could compensate a large part of that additional income.
the The EU proposal to increase your tax revenues. it consists of creating a tax on the digital revenues of very large client companies within the borders of the region, in addition to the traditional tax on their after-spending profits. Under the current proposal, the tax would remain in effect until there is a global agreement on how to approach the digital economy.
But the EU measure needs the unanimous approval of the member states for approval, and several countries continue to oppose it, including Ireland, where many technological giants are based in the EU, in part because of the country's favorable tax rate.
The proposals put pressure on large countries, including the US. UU., That last year imposed a new minimum tax on the profits of the American multinationals abroad - reach an agreement on how to tax the digital economy. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a forum of rich countries, has led international talks with the aim of reaching a consensus by 2020.
Pascal Saint-Amans, the head of the group's fiscal policy center, said the proposals create an incentive to move more quickly. "We understand that there has been some frustration, and there is a political urgency," he said. "We can not ignore it."
On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin expressed concern over "unilateral and unfair" tax proposals directed at US technology companies. UU And he urged his foreign counterparts to work within the OECD in a global plan.
However, in South Korea, lawmakers are holding committee meetings until next week to decide whether to impose a new digital tax. Lawmakers estimate that foreign technology giants generated up to 5 trillion South Korean won ($ 4.4 billion) in sales in the country last year, but they paid less than 100 million won in taxes: less than a quarter of what they were. that they would have paid if they were nationals. Company, they say.
"The EU has become the point of reference for many Asian countries, and we have been able to follow their example," said Pang Hyo-chang, an information technology professor who wrote a report on digital taxes used by Korean lawmakers. from the south.
-Andrea Thomas in Berlin contributed to this article.
Write to Timothy W. Martin in timothy.martin@wsj.com and Sam Schechner in sam.schechner@wsj.com
.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',
'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');
fbq('init', '369524843414444');
fbq('track', 'PageView');
.
SOURCE LINK ERESVIRAL.COM https://www.beviral.online
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario