Digital taxation
Digital taxation has become a pre-eminent topic in the global economic landscape. With the rise of the web giants and the digital transformation of businesses, digital tax issues raise numerous questions of fairness and adaptation of existing regulations. In this article, we explore the complexities of this rapidly evolving field.
What is Digital Taxation?
Digital taxation concerns the application of taxes to economic activities carried out using information and communication technologies. This includes revenues generated by IT companies, online sales, streaming services, social networks and data monetization. Faced with globalization and the dematerialization of transactions, governments are looking for fair ways to tax the profits made on their territory by companies that often have no physical presence there.
The Challenges of Digital Taxation
Tax Fairness and Competition
In a world where digital transactions transcend geographical boundaries, ensuring tax fairness is a major challenge. Various mechanisms are envisaged to ensure that digital companies make a fair contribution to the budgets of the states in which they operate, notably via theglobal minimum tax rate and the allocation of taxing rights between countries.
Adapting regulatory frameworks
Current legal frameworks are often inadequate to capture the wealth created by the digital economy. This calls for major adjustments in tax legislation to take account of new business models, such as capital gains tax in the case of digital assets, and tax justice.
Combating tax evasion
Tax evasion is a problem accentuated by the dematerialization of services and goods. In response, governments and international organizations are stepping up their cooperation, for example through the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project.
The International Response to Digital Taxation
The response to digital taxation revolves around international initiatives to redefine tax rules. For example, the European Union has considered a GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) tax, although this has given rise to debate as to its effectiveness and legitimacy.
Evolution of National Positions
At the same time, some jurisdictions are adopting their own measures, often referred to as “Digital Services Tax” (DST), such as those implemented in the UK, Italy and France. However, these unilateral taxes raise questions of trade conflicts and reciprocity.
The future of digital taxation
We’ll be keeping a close eye on legislative developments in this area. The digital services tax seems to be a starting point, but in the longer term, a global overhaul of international tax principles could be the key to more harmonious and effective digital taxation.
Frequently asked questions
Here is a list of frequently asked questions about digital taxation.
How are web giants taxed?
Web giants are often taxed on the basis of their physical presence, through subsidiaries in the countries where they generate revenue. However, under current reform proposals, they could be taxed according to their digital activity in each country, even without a physical presence.
What are the OECD’s proposals on digital taxation?
The OECD has proposed a framework to establish universal rules, including the definition of a taxable digital presence and mechanisms to distribute the profits of digital companies, so that taxation better corresponds to the creation of value.
Is the tax on digital services the same in every country?
No, each country that adopts a tax on digital services defines its own rates and rules, leading to heterogeneous approaches and sometimes trade tensions.