Biden’s games with Europe on duties and web tax
The United States approved and immediately suspended new tariffs on six countries – including Italy – which introduced "web taxes" for American digital multinationals. The goal of the stop, which will last six months, is to allow more time for negotiations in the OECD to reach an international agreement
Duties yes, no, maybe.
The United States suspended tariffs on six countries, including Italy, for six months to allow more time in reaching an agreement on the web tax .
The duties should have been triggered against Italy, Austria, India, Spain, Great Britain and Turkey. The tariffs would have hit Italian assets for 383 million dollars.
The suspension comes at the end of a year of tax investigations that, according to Washington, discriminate against large US tech companies such as Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook.
Negotiations are underway within the OECD and within the G20 for the imposition of a global minimum tax for multinationals on the proposal of the same administration of the US president, Joe Biden.
The Biden administration is pushing for a global minimum tax of 15% that aims to solve the question of companies hiding profits in low-tax nations.
But the trade representative (Ustr) made it clear that he still has the ability to impose punitive duties on goods from countries that have adopted the web tax .
Italy breathes a sigh of relief. The United States is the first outlet market outside the EU for Made in Italy agri-food. In October 2019, the Trump administration had introduced duties, equal to 25% of the value, on the Italian export of some cheeses, cured meats, citrus fruits and liqueurs.
All the details.
DISCRIMINATORY WEB TAX FOR THE USA
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced yesterday the conclusion of the web tax investigation adopted by Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the UK.
The Trump administration began investigating these countries' digital service taxes in June 2020 .
The US administration judged the web tax to be discriminatory towards US companies. The final determination in these investigations is to impose additional tariffs on certain goods from these countries.
SUSPENSION OF RATES
However, the application of the duties was suspended for a period of 180 days. The suspension, announced yesterday evening, was motivated by the commitment of President Biden to seek a solution shared by the OECD and within the G20 on the issues of corporate taxation ″.
TO REACH MULTILATERAL SOLUTION ON THE WEB TAX
"The United States is committed to reaching an agreement on international tax issues within the OECD and the G20," Tai said. "Today's actions provide time for these negotiations to continue making progress, while retaining the option to impose tariffs in the future," he added.
DUTIES OF OVER 2 BILLION DOLLARS
The total value of the duties at 25% is over 2 billion dollars, of which 800 million from the United Kingdom and 300 million each from Italy and Spain.
The USSR in January suspended tariffs of 25% on 1.3 billion dollars of French goods again for the digital tax .
In March, the additional duties on exports of Italian agri-food products destined for the US market for a value of 500 million euros were suspended until next July, decided in the context of the dispute over public aid to the Airbus and Boeing groups.
REVENUE OF THE TAX ON DIGITAL SERVICES LIMITED IN ITALY
The duties would therefore have eliminated the collection of the web tax in Italy.
“In Italy, the revenue from the tax on digital services for 2020 was however limited: just 233 million euros” recalled MF / Milano Finanza . The data were presented by the Minister of Economy, Daniele Franco, answering the questions of the deputies in the Chamber. "The deadline for the payment of the first installment for the taxable year 2020 has been extended to May 17, 2021, setting June 30 as the deadline for sending the annual declaration ”, explained the owner of the department of Via XX Settembre. "To date, payments made with the F24 form up to May 17 for an amount of 98 million by 49 subjects, 40 joint-stock companies and 9 non-resident subjects have been distributed, and transfers made directly to the Treasury have been recorded in the State Accounting Office for an amount of 135 million, therefore a total of revenue from the tax on digital services for 2020 amounts to 233 million ".
THE COMMENT OF CONFAGRICOLTURA
"The resumption of cooperation on issues related to international trade is a decidedly positive event also for the Italian agri-food sector", commented the president of Confagricoltura, Massimiliano Giansanti, in a note.
Therefore “the decision taken yesterday by the US administration reinforces the optimism on the possibility of concluding the negotiations under way with the European Commission with a definitive agreement. With the overcoming of the health emergency and the relaunch of multilateral cooperation on international trade issues, the conditions have been created to increase the presence of our exports worldwide. The signs are already encouraging ”, concludes Giansanti.
AND THAT OF COLDIRETTI
"With Made in Italy exports that have more than doubled in the US (+ 113%) it is important to suspend additional duties for six months in six countries, including Italy, in the context of digital tax disputes". This is what Coldiretti says on the basis of the latest Istat data on foreign trade in April.
These are – underlines Coldiretti – the important effects of the resumption of dialogue which on 11 March already led to the overcoming of the additional tariffs relating to the Airbus-Boeing disputes which affected, among other things, the national exports of Parmigiano Reggiano, Grana Padano. , Gorgonzola, Asiago, Fontina, Provolone but also salami, mortadella, crustaceans, citrus molluscs, juices, cordials and liqueurs such as bitters and limoncello.
“Overcoming the trade wars is a global necessity to foster the revival of the economy and employment on a global level”, said the president of Coldiretti Ettore Prandini.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/biden-ue-dazi-web-tax/ on Thu, 03 Jun 2021 10:34:43 +0000.