Paris (AFP)

France plans to suspend the levy of its digital tax this year as part of its discussions with the United States "to give time" and find a global agreement at the OECD, sources told AFP concordant.

"It is on the table for discussions that will take place Wednesday" in Davos between the French Minister of Finance, Bruno Le Maire, and his American counterpart Steven Mnuchin, whose country threatens Paris with sanctions for having imposed as of last year the digital giants, said a French source.

"The tax is maintained, but the payment of installments scheduled in April and November is suspended to give time to negotiations within the OECD" in order to find a global agreement by the end of the year on taxation digital, said the source.

According to another source, close to the negotiations, "France would suspend the payment of the advance payment of the tax planned for April and the balance to be paid in November by the companies concerned".

On his arrival at a meeting of European finance ministers in Brussels, Le Maire evaded the question: "I will not go into the details of the negotiations. I prefer that it remains between Mnuchin and myself", said he declared.

He reiterated his hope that a final solution would be found "by the end of 2020" at the international level to tax the digital giants.

"Macron and Trump had a very constructive discussion (...) and they agreed to avoid any escalation between the USA and France on this issue of digital taxation," he said.

"This is good news (...). I had yesterday (my American counterpart Steven, Editor's note) Mnuchin on the phone, we continue to work, our technical teams are in contact day and night to work on a solution" , he added.

The two ministers are scheduled to meet on Wednesday at the Davos economic forum in Switzerland.

"It remains a difficult negotiation. The devil is in the details, there are a number of details to be settled, but I believe that we are in the right direction," said Le Maire.

France has decided to impose a tax on January 1, 2019 on large digital companies up to 3% of their turnover, pending the adoption of international taxation.

A year ago, the United States had relaunched negotiations on digital taxation within the OECD, which they had blocked for several years, but in December they laid down conditions rejected by France.

The Trump administration then threatened to overtax "up to 100%" the equivalent of $ 2.4 billion in French products.

© 2020 AFP