The EU countries remain divided on a proposal from the European Commission to implement a new digital tax on larger online groups providing services such as advertising. A meeting of EU finance ministers found that a majority is still missing to support the new tax, and some countries plan to pursue their own national initiatives instead. The Austrian government, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU this semester, said it hopes to reach a consensus on the proposal by the end its term at year-end.
The Council of ministers said in a statement that while "progress has been achieved on a number of issues such as definitions, tax collection, and administrative cooperation, there are still differences between member states on several issues, including the precise scope of services which would be subject to the future tax."
The finance ministers focused in their latest meeting on two key issues in the Commission proposal: the scope of taxable services and the question of the expiry of the directive - the so-called "sunset clause". All the EU states are in agreement that the tax should be only a temporary measure, until an agreement can be reached at OECD level on a better international taxation system for online services.
The aim is to reach an agreement at the council's next meeting on 04 December.
