The proposal put forward by the 4 promoting countries – Italy, France, Germany and Spain – envisages taxation based on revenues generated from digital traffic and only beyond a certain ceiling, thus leaving behind a system based on the taxation of profits.
The digital industry, considering its immaterial nature, manages to escape taxation linked to the place of residence.
According to a French source, it is not a question of "creating a surcharge, but simply of making companies pay taxes that correspond to their real activities conducted in the various countries: think of a tax between 2 and 6% of the volume of business, such as not to exceed the amount that these companies would have to pay by way of tax on profits”.
The Estonian presidency of Ecofin will indicate the need to review the definition of "permanent or stable residence" of a company in the digital sector: "even without a physical presence - underlines the presidency - a business with a significant digital presence could be obliged to have a 'virtual permanent presence' in a jurisdiction to comply with corporate tax rules, including profit allocation rules”.
The web tax is already a reality in some countries. In 2015, in the United Kingdom, a tax on profits was introduced which is based on presumed activity in the territory (25% rate 5 percentage points higher than the rate for companies).
In 2016 Italy launched the single tax of 6% on the sale of goods and services carried out by non-resident subjects and in the last financial maneuver in June it introduced a kind of voluntary 'compliance' for digital companies that have a turnover more than 50 million euros
