EU and U.S. to discuss digital tax ahead of bloc’s levy plan

The European Union’s digital chief will meet U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen next week as the EU delayed plans for a digital levy after a potential global tax breakthrough.

Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s executive vice-president for digital issues, is now due to propose a new EU tax on technology companies’ revenues on July 20, a week later than planned, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News.

First, she’ll hold a virtual meeting with Yellen on July 6, according to her online calendar. They’ll talk about the digital levy and international tax negotiations, according to the EU’s press office.

Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Bloomberg

A digital levy, likely to hit American firms hardest, was initially pushed by the EU in the absence of a global deal. Such a deal looks set to progress after 130 countries and jurisdictions backed a plan this week on how multinationals’ profits should be taxed. Some countries are resisting the proposals.

It isn’t clear if the EU will still push ahead with its plans for the levy, which it had said was needed if there was no global accord. The EU has been cracking down on corporate taxation with Vestager taking high-profile cases for Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and others to pay more back taxes to European governments.