G20 finance chiefs adopt statement on digital services taxes｜Arab News Japan

RIO DE JANERO: Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies on Thursday adopted a statement for the early implementation of digital services taxes, apparently with information technology behemoths in mind.

Masato Kanda, Japan’s vice finance minister for international affairs, told reporters after the first-day session of the two-day G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro that the statement was adopted with an objective of beefing up cooperation over international taxation.

The statement mentions taxation on the uber-rich, which is pushed by Brazil, chair the G20 meeting, according to Kanda. The details of the statement will be released Friday, when the two-day meeting ends.

The digital service taxation framework aims to have IT giants and other companies operating across borders face taxes also in countries where they offer services but do not have business bases. The G20 economies agreed in 2021 to implement such a taxation system.

As there have been delays in the signing in many countries of a multilateral treaty needed for implementing the framework, the G20 officials at Thursday’s meeting agreed to speed up the process.

“We welcome the fact that we were able to compile a (G20) ministerial statement on cooperation over cross-border taxation for the first time,” Kanda said.

At Thursday’s session, Japan strongly condemned Russia for continuing its invasion of Ukraine.

Touching on the risk of prolonged high interest rates destabilizing the financial markets, Japan stressed the need for appropriate action based on past G20 agreements that excess volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates can have adverse implications for the economy.

JIJI Press