The hour of mobilization has come. While the global minimum tax
due to come into force from 2024, French companies are stepping up to the front. According to the documents seen by “Les Echos”, no less than thirty tricolor flagships have challenged the officials of the OECD in charge of steering this historic tax reform. They alone represent a third of the panel of international companies that responded to the consultation launched by the OECD on a very sensitive point: the content of future tax declarations.
These companies include many CAC 40 heavyweights (Danone, Vivendi, Carrefour, LVMH, BNP Paribas, Publicis, etc.), but also SNCF, Tarkett, Burelle SA and other groups whose consolidated turnover may exceed $750 million. For the record, it is this level of income that determines which company falls within the scope of the reform, i.e. which company will have to pay a minimum effective tax of 15% in each country where it is located. established (where, sometimes, the effective tax is nil or symbolic).
Sensitive economic data
What are all these players saying, joined by the Medef, the French Association of Private Companies (Afep) or the French Banking Federation? If they affirm in the preamble that they are in favor of the establishment of the global minimum tax, they are alarmed by the quantity and type of information that will have to be provided in the declarations sent to the administrations. They also express their “serious concerns” about the protection of sensitive economic data. [déclaration] “The volume of information collected within the framework of the
appears disproportionate with regard to the investment ratio of companies / risk of under-taxation ”, can we read in the letter from the SNCF. It draws attention to the increased administrative burden for companies and their subsidiaries, as well as the importance of the resources to be mobilised.
Concretely, the groups are fighting to lighten the constraints of “reporting”. In particular, they believe that if they already pay more than 15% tax in a country, they should not have to recalculate to provide data on each legal entity and on the consolidated activity in this country. In their eyes, this exercise is only justified if there is indeed a new tax to pay or a “reasonable” probability that this is the case. Otherwise, they point out that the administration can always carry out a check.
140 signatory countries
On the subject of sensitive economic data, players would like many more guarantees. “We ask that only general information be shared with jurisdictions which are not authorized to collect the additional tax”, pleads the letter from Medef. “A jurisdiction should not have access to the details of entities in other jurisdictions under any circumstances, if it is not bound to collect the additional tax. »
The current project tenses companies because any of the 140 signatory countries of the agreement on the global minimum tax can in theory claim information from them. “When a French group is the only competitor of local players on a market, providing data on its activity is far from being neutral,” explains a tax expert. “Some States do not offer the guarantees that one can have with the French administration: what will they do with the sensitive information transmitted? Eyes are turning in particular to China.
General consultation on March 16
The OECD technical work teams will address these issues in a general consultation on 16 March. The practical details of the reform could be finalized in the coming weeks. This allows the OECD to display its optimism: it estimates that by 2025, 90% of multinationals with a turnover of more than 750 million dollars will be subject to the global minimum tax.
For Europe, the next decisive step will be the transposition into national law of the directive passed last December. France is considering a specific bill, which should be presented before the summer. The question of harmonization between the Twenty-Seven will be crucial.
The global minimum tax mechanism aims to collect the “missing” tax revenues made possible by establishments in low-tax countries. Thus, a French firm, whose subsidiary pays 2% of the effective rate in a foreign country, will have to pay the 13% which is missing (the difference with respect to the world rate of 15%).
The OECD called upon to justify its figures
In January and again recently, the Organization assured that the global minimum tax would yield much more than initially expected: annual revenue would now be estimated at 220 billion dollars, or the equivalent of 9% of global tax revenue. on companies. Several players in the economic world have asked him to explain this new figure, which some consider “highly overvalued”.
One of the problems would come in particular from the fact that the OECD’s calculations are based on data for the year 2018. artificially the profits and give the impression of a massive under-taxation of the multinationals, even in countries like France”, notes a tax specialist. “The rules adopted for global tax precisely correct this effect. »
Another problem with the reference to 2018: Trump’s tax reform was not yet in effect. “However, this has changed the behavior of companies and brought in taxes”, continues the same specialist. Finally, according to him, another bias falsifies the estimate: it is due to the fact that country-by-country reporting recognizes deferred taxes in a way other than what is provided for in the global tax rules. The communication of the OECD around the 220 billion is therefore very intriguing.