The recent boom in digital businesses, such as social media companies, collaborative platforms and online content providers, has made a great contribution to economic growth in the EU. But current tax rules were not designed to cater for those companies that are global, virtual or have little or no physical presence. The change has been dramatic: 9 of the world's top 20 companies by market capitalisation are now digital, compared to 1 in 20 ten years ago. The challenge is to make the most of this trend, while ensuring that digital companies also contribute their fair share of tax. If not, there is a real risk to Member State public revenues: digital companies currently have an average effective tax rate half that of the traditional economy in the EU.

European Commission's proposals come as Member States seek permanent and lasting solutions to ensure a fair share of tax revenues from online activities, as urgently called for by EU leaders in October 2017. Profits made through lucrative activities, such as selling user-generated data and content, are not captured by today's tax rules. Member States are now starting to seek fast, unilateral solutions to tax digital activities, which creates a legal minefield and tax uncertainty for business. A coordinated approach is the only way to ensure that the digital economy is taxed in a fair, growth-friendly and sustainable way.

Two distinct legislative proposals proposed by the Commission on 21 March 2018 will lead to a fairer taxation of digital activities in the EU:

• The first initiative aims to reform corporate tax rules so that profits are registered and taxed where businesses have significant interaction with users through digital channels. This forms the Commission's preferred long-term solution.
• The second proposal responds to calls from several Member States for an interim tax which covers the main digital activities that currently escape tax altogether in the EU.

This package sets out a coherent EU approach to a digital taxation system which supports the Digital Single Market and which will feed into international discussions aiming to fix the issue at the global level.

Read full press release.

Digitální společnosti jako #Google či #Facebook generují obrovské zisky, ale platí minimální daně. Evropská komise navrhuje, aby digitální společnosti odváděly daně tam, kde mají uživatele, ne podle sídla. Návrhy Komise: https://t.co/6TSzvryqXa pic.twitter.com/ETp8KBeVOh

— Evropská komise v ČR (@ZEK_Praha) March 21, 2018