The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) does not want its arbitration work to establish fiscal peace between states and big techs to be a fiasco.

The Paris-based agency is a full authority in economic development policies and has a challenge before it: putting the foundations of a global Google fee in motion. On one side, 130 countries. On the other, global technological giants of very different condition but something in common: a minimum tax bill in all countries where it operates and benefits and capitalizations unmatched in history.

“Companies will pay their fair share wherever they have activities and where they get benefits. Countries that currently cannot tax digital giants will be able to do so, ”said the OECD in the report published yesterday that kicks off the project

"This plan brings together common elements of the existing proposals that involve more than 130 countries, with contributions from governments, companies and civil society and brings us closer to the ultimate goal of ensuring that all multinationals pay their fair share," said the secretary general of the OECD, Ángel Gurría, during the presentation of the proposal in Paris.

In this regard, the Mexican warned that if an agreement was not reached in 2020, "it would greatly increase the risk of countries acting unilaterally" , with negative consequences for the global economy. "We must not allow that to happen," he warned.

The digital market that in the last 25 years has given rise to new businesses, new sectors, new jobs and also new multinational giants will lead in 2020 to an international consensus to change the rules of the tax game around the world.

The Paris-based agency published yesterday the first document that wants to establish a stable and global basis on the payment of taxes by the omnipresent digital giants in the network, but less visible in the payment of taxes. The tax advantages they use have been denounced by their competitors and represent a growing economic hole for states that complain about the pressure of high debt and growing social obligations.

How this project will become a reality is still unknown, although the OECD agenda says that next January a compromise will be reached that each country can later develop. In recent years the list of states that have threatened these companies with tax inspections and fines has grown, which has not prevented companies from reaching valuations close to or greater than a billion dollars.

Among the starting points, the novelty is that physical presence in a country will not be an essential requirement to tax an activity. The States will have the right to charge, even if the company sells its services from abroad because it will be taxed wherever the users are.

The movement is a consequence of the conflict between these large companies and the countries where they operate on account of the differences between the business they obtain and the taxes and employment they generate. The centennial structure on which current international tax rules are based has been overwhelmed by the digital world, and last year more than 110 countries agreed to implement measures as early as 2020. This agreement was endorsed by the last G20 summit held last August in Biarritz (France).

The Paris-based body argues that "the current rules, dating from the 1920s, are no longer sufficient to guarantee an equitable allocation of tax rights in an increasingly globalized world" and that the allocation of tax rights " it can no longer be limited exclusively based on physical presence ».

For their part, the digital giants are aware that the change in the tax system that benefits them so much is unstoppable. They support the OECD initiative for a “consensual” solution, as Amazon says, that avoids the risk of double taxation (the same income subject to two or more equal taxes) and “distorting unilateral measures” by countries.

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