France to impose tax on digital businesses such as Apple this year

France will tax big digital businesses such as Apple this year whether there’s progress or not towards an international deal on a levy, according to Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, adding such a tax has “never been more legitimate or more necessary,” reports Reuters.

The article notes that nearly 140 countries from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are negotiating the first major rewriting of tax rules in more than a generation, to take better account of the rise of big tech companies such as Apple “that often book profit in low-tax countries.”

In January offered in January to suspend its digital tax on tech companies’ income in France until the end of the year while any international deal was negotiated.

However, the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak has left finance ministries most focused on saving their economies.

“In any case, France will apply as it has always indicated a tax on digital giants in 2020 either in an international form if there is a deal or in a national form if there is no deal,” Le Maire said.