Potential Direct Tax Implications For Digital Economy

Multinational companies such as Google, Facebook, Airbnb etc., engaged in providing digital services in different countries, without any physical presence, are likely to be adversely impacted by the changing international tax regime. The tax challenges arising from digitalisation of the economy were identified as one of the main areas of focus of the Base Erosion and Profit Sharing (BEPS) Action Plan, leading to the 2015 BEPS Action 1 Report on 'Addressing the Tax Challenges of the Digital Economy'. Thereafter, the focus of the countries has been to draw up a conclusive plan for the governments' right to tax multinationals, through the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which is currently working on releasing a methodology for such taxation, by 2020.