Italy plans to introduce a tax on large digital companies

ITALY. Following the example of France, which introduced it in July 2019, Italy is preparing to implement a tax on large digital companies by 2020. This project was already present in the 2019 budget law but without any implementation following. It is now included in the budget document submitted on Wednesday 16 October 2019 to the European Commission.

Called "Web tax", this tax will hit 3% of turnover in Italy companies with global annual turnover of more than 750 M €, so mainly the famous Gafa (Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple ).

This new tax could bring some 600 M € into the coffers of the Italian state, according to forecasts of its Ministry of Finance in 2018.

The European Union is slow to legislate on the subject and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) calls for global negotiations on the taxation of Gafa. In July 2019, the countries in the G8 unanimously recognized the need for minimum corporate taxation to combat tax evasion and optimization, targeting digital businesses.

France, and now Italy, take the lead pending the adoption of tax rules common to the 129 OECD countries that will replace their national tax.