New submitter Based.Tech writes: The French Finance Ministry has sent out
notices to big tech companies liable for its digital service tax to pay
the levy as planned in December, the ministry said on Wednesday. France
suspended collection of the tax, which will hit companies like Facebook
and Amazon, early this year while negotiations were underway at the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development on an overhaul of
international tax rules. The Finance Ministry has long said it would
collect the tax in December as planned if the talks proved unfruitful by
then, which is what happened when the nearly 140 countries involved
agreed last month to keep negotiating until mid 2021. “Companies subject
to the tax have received their notice to pay the 2020 installment,” a
Finance Ministry official said. France last year applied a 3 percent levy
on revenue from digital services earned in France by companies with
revenues of more than 25 million euros here and 750 million euros
worldwide. The ministry had hoped to raise about 500 million euros this
year from the tax, but the 2021 budget bill puts the figure at 400
million. Facebook’s stance is “is to ensure compliance with all tax laws
in the jurisdictions where we operate.” Other tech companies have made
similar statements. …
