Paris (AFP)

The last obstacles on the global taxation of multinationals soon to be overcome?

In the aftermath of Ireland's very symbolic rally, more than a hundred countries are negotiating on Friday under the aegis of the OECD the details of this historic reform.

The international organization should make announcements at the end of the day on the future international taxation, supposed to fight against optimization strategies allowing large companies to partially escape tax.

An agreement on the main lines was reached in July, it is now a question of defining technical parameters, but the subject of tough negotiations between States with very varied national tax strategies.

A key lock has already been blown with the rallying Thursday of Ireland and Estonia, two countries which were reluctant until then to affix their initials to the text.

Ireland's Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe at a press conference in Dublin on October 7, 2021 STRINGER POOL / AFP

For Dublin, which is home to the European headquarters of Apple, Facebook and Google, the assurance that the minimum tax rate for groups with more than 750 million euros in turnover would not exceed 15% was decisive.

The July accord mentioned "at least" 15%, leaving the door open for an increase.

- "Enormous progress" -

The Irish "yes" was described as a "huge step forward" by the European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni on Thursday on Twitter.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that we were "on the way to achieving change as only one happens per generation".

Facebook offices, in central Dublin business district, October 7, 2021 PAUL FAITH AFP

Of the 140 countries and territories associated with the OECD negotiations, four countries are still missing, including Hungary.

Budapest, which proposes a corporate tax rate of 9%, is one of the states focusing on tax attractiveness and is negotiating one of the key points still under debate: the deductions that will be authorized to calculate the tax base for multinationals.

The other big piece concerns the amounts of tax revenue that will be redistributed in countries where multinationals have activities and customers, but no head office.

This only concerns the very large groups which record more than 20 billion euros in turnover each year and display high profitability.

If it is presented as historic by many leaders, the text remains criticized by NGOs and some economists for its lack of ambition and the inequalities it would cause.

According to the NGO Oxfam, with a tax rate of 15%, the additional tax revenues generated will benefit two-thirds of the rich G7 countries and the European Union.

The poorest countries will recover less than 3%.

As for the redistribution of tax revenues to the States where the activity of multinationals is carried out, "the United States and Europe will mainly benefit from it", affirms to AFP Daniel Bunn, head of international projects at the Tax Foundation, in Washington.

Because multinationals "house their head offices and most of their customers there."

Welcoming "a great gesture forward" which allows "to remove certain loopholes", the Nobel laureate in economics Joseph Stiglitz also regretted Thursday at a press conference an agreement which "does not address the concerns of countries enough developing and emerging countries ".

The economist campaigned for a minimum tax of 25%.

The objective is for the reform to be implemented by 2023, the time to adapt the legislation.

But some questions remain unanswered, such as the ability of the US administration to force reform on Congress.

© 2021 AFP