towards an international agreement by the end of the year?

Is this the end of the hiatus between France and the United States? A working group including the two countries must submit, before the end of the year, a common proposal on the taxation of digital giants. The " technical working group Is chaired by France and the United States but works in close consultation with all OECD countries, which will be concerned by the proposal that should be forthcoming in the coming months.

An international reform of the corporate tax?

Beyond the question of the taxation of the digital giants, stumbling block between France and its American ally, the objective is " create a taxation model for the 21st century"While many companies no longer have physical presence where their customers are," said Gurria. This new model thus includes a breakdown of taxes collected from multinational companies between countries where they sell their goods and services, and the application of a minimum corporate tax rate at the international level.

Nevertheless, several points of debate remain, suggesting that if negotiations are well underway, the forthcoming discussions will be animated. Bruno Le Maire has thus evoked four issues that remain to be solved. The The first concerns the definition of the link between digital companies and the territory in which they operate. " Is it the number of customers? Is it the number of connections? Is it the size of the platforms? All of this needs to be discussed", He explained. It will then be necessary to define both the level of taxation of companies and the scope of the tax: will it be applied according to the turnover of the companies or the size of the market concerned? Finally, should companies operating online only be treated as a specific category? " We consider that this specificity must be taken into account", Pleaded the minister.

A first victory

A joint proposal would bury the hatchet of war between France and Uncle Sam in this file. Indeed, since the adoption of the "Gafa tax" in July, the two countries are engaged in a diplomatic ping-pong of high flight: Donald Trump has thus threatened France with retaliatory measures by heavily taxing wine imports, which would penalize exports of this symbolic product of tricolor gastronomy; for its part, the French government has repeatedly stated that it would not bend, forcing the world to play the referees in this explosive issue.

France has nonetheless committed to replacing its home Gafa tax with the new international agreement when it is the subject of a consensus. It was already her commitment when she supported the idea of ​​a provisional European tax on digital services, a project that finally fizzled as Europe was divided on the subject. If the OECD members reached an agreement, it would be a first victory for France, which would have managed to impose on the international scene a debate that was close to his heart. It is still necessary that she wins her arm wrestling over the content of the proposal …