More than 130 nations agreed on Friday to a sweeping overhaul of international tax rules, with officials backing a 15 per cent global minimum tax and other changes aimed at cracking down on tax havens that have drained countries of much-needed revenue. “Today’s agreement will make our international tax arrangements fairer and work better,” Mathias Cormann, the organization’s secretary general, said in a statement. The agreement to enact a 15 per cent minimum corporate tax rate had been proposed by the United States, which has long looked for ways to minimise incentives for companies to shift profits abroad to lower their tax bills. As the Biden administration prepares to try and raise corporate tax rates in the United States, getting a global minimum tax in place has become critical to prevent companies from simply shifting their headquarters overseas. The deal goes beyond setting a global minimum tax — it also creates new rules for the digital era.

Source: The Telegraph October 08, 2021 16:18 UTC