Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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131. To ask the Minister for Finance the status of the EU proposal to introduce digital taxation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51635/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is aware that the European Commission proposal for an interim Digital Services Tax, which imposes a 3% levy on the turnover of certain companies’ digital activities, has been debated among Member States at both a technical and political level for some months.  

The Digital Services Tax proposal was included as an item for policy agreement at ECOFIN on 4 December, where Finance Ministers were asked to agree the scope of the proposal.  The debate was held in public session.   

An agreement was not reached, with several Member States, including Ireland, expressing reservations about the proposal. An amended Franco-German proposal was tabled at ECOFIN which seeks to narrow the scope of the digital tax to online targeted advertising only. Subsequent to the discussion the Presidency proposed that Member States consider the Franco-German proposal in the coming months.

Technical discussions will now commence on this proposal.  It will be for the Romanian Presidency to determine whether and when this proposal will next be discussed by Ministers. Ireland will of course engage constructively in this debate as we have throughout this process. 

I have always been clear that I fully recognise that further change is coming to the international tax environment. I remain convinced that global agreement at the OECD offers the most appropriate way for delivering these changes. Intensive work is underway at the OECD and it is expected that an update on this work will be published in mid 2019 with a view to reaching agreement before the end of 2020.