Washington — The U.S. Department of Treasury has released a Joint Statement from the United States, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom regarding a compromise on digital services taxes (DSTs) in light of the October 8 OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework announcement. Under the agreement, the countries will work together to roll back digital taxes that some countries began implementing ahead of the broader multilateral global tax agreement.
Concurrently, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has announced it will terminate the currently-suspended additional duties on goods of these countries that had been adopted in the DST Section 301 investigations.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association has long called for a withdrawal of unilateral digital taxes and supported the USTR’s investigations into these. Rather than artificially target certain industries, CCIA has called for a broad, global tax reform, which we welcomed on October 8.
The following can be attributed to CCIA President Matt Schruers:
“We welcome the leadership of the United States, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom in reaching a compromise that will lead to the removal of existing digital services taxes.
“While the most appropriate action would be an immediate withdrawal of these discriminatory unilateral measures in exchange for terminating the trade investigations, we stand ready to work with policymakers to see the swift implementation of the global framework, and ensure that no new discriminatory measures are introduced in the future.”
“It is encouraging that the new consensus on global tax reform already appears to be reducing international tax and trade tensions.”