Taxing the digital economy

Background

At an event earlier this year organised by international law firm Pinsent Masons a panel of experts considered the implications of proposed changes to the tax system to deal with the digitalised economy.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has committed to producing a final report in 2020 on what changes (if any) are needed to the international tax system to deal with technology businesses and the increasing digitalisation of the global economy and an interim report is expected this year. In the meantime the European Commission and individual countries (including the UK Italy Spain and France) are all proposing interim measures to collect extra tax revenues from digital activity.

The panel considered the implications of the current proposals and what we might expect in the future both for digital companies and for other companies operating internationally. With panel members having experience from...