As the Internet has evolved, the laws have had to do so to adapt and not be left behind, although generally they always do it late and as a general rule, badly. A couple of years ago, the European Union approved the Tax on Certain Digital Services, a new tax intended to raise more money from platforms that offer digital services, as we can well deduce from the name.
If we talk about companies that offer digital services, we are talking about Spotify, Glovo, Zalando, Vinted, Dilvery Hero, Booking among others. These companies have reached an agreement and have sent a letter to all the finance ministers of the European Union countries to reconsider the amount that is required of them through this law, since, if they want to continue operating, they will see obliged to fully pass it on to users.
This letter is only signed by European companies, no firm from outside the European Union has joined the proposal. This tax is related to the work of the OECD to carry out a far-reaching tax reform so that companies that work abroad have certain tax advantages in some countries and request that this be eliminated, since it puts them in inferior conditions with companies from outside the European Union.
This tax mainly on growing companies that are still far from breakeven and whose revenue margins are very small, by forcing them to pay an extra tax that they could use to make the company reach other markets, add new features and else. The companies signing this letter are: adevinta, AirHelp, Allegro, bookingCatawiki, Criteo, Delivery Hero, balloon, Just Eat, SpotifySchibsted, Trustpilot, VintedWolt and Zalando
The Tax on Certain Digital Services applied to gross incomethat is, on the income that the company obtains without discounting all the associated expenses, so it is being applied to an amount that is not really a profit margin that the company may have, so it does not matter if the company is profitable or not, if she has income, of whatever type, she is obliged to pay, even if the fiscal balance, that is, the benefits are negative.
If it were applied to profits, which would be logical, there would be no controversy, since it would not be necessary to transfer this tax to users, at least in its entirety. This group of European companies requests that this tax end, as well as other measures that are also being carried out so as not to harm economic growth, innovation, employment and investment, since they represent obstacles that do not have to be faced. foreign companies increased the difficulty to compete effectively and one on one.
