16/08/18

UK: Contemplates Online Retailer Tax.

(Malta Winds) -- Chancellor Philip Hammond has stated that Britain will consider implementing a unilateral tax for online retail sales. Discussing recent GDP figures, Hammond noted that as the prevalence of online shopping increases and the nature of high street and traditional business models evolve, so too must the means of taxing traditional and digital business.

Hammond said renegotiating international tax treaties was the best means to “ensure that taxation is fair between businesses doing business the traditional way and those doing business online…because many of the big online businesses are international companies”, but that if a consensus cannot be reached at international level then “tax on online platform businesses based on value generated” which could help to “rebalance the playing field” was “certainly something we’d be prepared to consider.”