January - 2013


BY: ANNE-LAURE-HÉLÈNE DES YLOUSES AND ANNE-SOLÈNE GAY

Publication of a report regarding the taxation of digital economy on 18 January 2013

On 18 January 2013, an expert mission commissioned by the French government and led by Pierre Collin, Conseiller d’Etat, and Nicolas Colin, Inspecteur des finances, published a report regarding the taxation of digital economy.

 

The conclusion of this report focuses mainly on the taxation of the collection and use of data.

In this regard, the report introduces the concept of "free work" defined as the provision by the users of their data through the use of digital services.

This report considers that "free work" is a strategic source of revenue for companies of digital economy and as such it should be taxed. The report therefore recommends to include the "free work" in the concept of "permanent establishment" which allows corporate taxation in member countries of the OECD. This concept of "permanent establishment" refers to the presence of local and personals of a company in a country.

In addition to the international negotiations, which should allow changing the concept of "permanent establishment", the report proposes on the national level, the establishment of a tax based on the collection and use of data in France.

This tax should, according to the recommendations of the report, be incentive to lead companies to comply better with users’ rights specially their rights to be informed in the context of data collection.

Finally, the report recommends the French government to adapt to the digital economy the regulation such as the research tax credit and the status of young innovative undertakings in a manner to create a tax environment conducive to the emergence of new firms.


Tags:
Expert mission, report, taxation, digital, digital economy, free work, permanent establishment, tax, Pierre Collin, Nicolas Colin, Anne-Solène Gay, Anne-Laure-Hélène des Ylouses, YGMA

Files: rapport_fiscalite_du_numerique_janvier_2013_01.pdf
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