Lessons of globalization: Internet companies will be taxed worldwide

Its size will be 15%. 130 countries have supported the introduction of a global digital tax , the Associated Press reports.

"The initiator of the introduction of such a tax was the United States", - said the TV channel Rain.

The essence of the new system is to influence the financial policies of large Internet companies such as Amazon, Google and Facebook, which operate all over the world, but often avoid establishing headquarters and, accordingly, paying taxes in those states. where they make money.

The agreement is expected to come into effect in 2023, after the final version is discussed by representatives of the G20 at the October summit.

The heads of many states have repeatedly announced the need to introduce a digital tax, but initially not everyone supported the idea. Meanwhile, already today, India, China, as well as Bermuda and Cayman Islands are among the countries that have signed an agreement on the introduction of a global digital tax. The latter often became the place of registration of companies in order to minimize taxation.

It is expected that the introduction of a global tax will gradually nullify the practice of transferring documents to offshore and countries with low tax rates.

In Russia, a new fiscal measure in the form of a digital tax should be included in the second package of measures to support the Russian IT industry. The authorities want to use the money received from foreign IT companies to support the Russian IT industry.

The first tax on Google in Russia was introduced in 2017. It must be paid by IT companies that sell games, databases and other software in the Russian Federation remotely. As soon as this tax was introduced, prices for software and services of foreign developers soared up in Russia. This affected customers Google, Microsoft and Facebook.

The authorities explained the feasibility of introducing a new tax at the expense of foreigners by the fact that the domestic IT industry needs help, but the government can no longer support it from the budget: representatives of the industry have already been provided with many benefits and preferences, which negatively affects the filling of the budget, which has been seriously affected from coronacrisis.

The authorities clarified that the budget funds allocated to this area are not unlimited. Part of the spending of the treasury in the context of the coronavirus crisis, the Russian government decided to shift onto the shoulders of foreigners. Users have already dubbed the government's initiative "an additional tax on Google".

With the introduction of the "tax on Google", the Russians were outstripped by the Australian authorities. After introducing the initiative, the internet giant threatened to block internet searches in the country.

Budget revenues from the "first tax on Google" in Russia are estimated at about 50 billion rubles. in year. Experts believe that companies lose more on this tax than the authorities gain, and therefore it would be more effective not to cross-subsidize some market players at the expense of others, but to return to a simplified form of obtaining zero VAT for developers. A good help for the domestic digital industry could be the elimination of double taxation for domestic companies offering their services through foreign platforms.