Digital Services Tax: Overview of the progress of implementation by EU Member States

For several years there have been efforts at international, EU and national levels to reform taxation to ensure that profits are taxed where economic value is created. Most recently this work has centred on the digital economy but it has its roots in the scrutiny of tax planning strategies used by multinationals that operate across multiple jurisdictions.

At an international level, work has revolved around the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which in 2013 launched its Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan with a process aimed at countering certain strategies used by multinationals to reduce their tax burden. On 9th October 2019 the OECD published its 'unified approach' for public consultation, with the aim of arriving at a consensus, so as to develop a solution for its final report to the G20 in 2020.

Read our pan-European analysis here >