Shares in US tech giants lower after landmark G7 tax deal

File picture: Reuters/File Photos/File Photo

File picture: Reuters/File Photos/File Photo

Published Jun 7, 2021

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Shares in U.S. technology giants were down slightly in premarket trading after the world's richest nations agreed on a landmark global minimum corporate tax deal.

The Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies agreed on Saturday to back a minimum global corporate tax rate of at least 15%.

Shares of Facebook, Amazon.com, Apple, Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet were all down between 0.3% and 0.6%.

The G7's proposals are seen targeting technology companies that sell services remotely and attribute much of their profits to intellectual properly held in low-tax jurisdictions.

Google said on Saturday that it supports the work being done to update international tax rules after G7 finance ministers agreed to pursue a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15% and to reallocate taxing rights for large, profitable multinational companies.

"We strongly support the work being done to update international tax rules. We hope countries continue to work together to ensure a balanced and durable agreement will be finalized soon," Google spokesman José Castañeda said in an emailed statement.

A landmark deal to reform corporate tax payments proposed by the Group of Seven on Saturday will not unfairly benefit the United States, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said on Monday.

"I wouldn’t agree with your characterisation that this particularly benefits the U.S.," OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann told BBC radio.

"I think you’ll find that there are a number of very large multinational U.S. companies that will end up paying more tax in countries around the world, where perhaps at the moment that is not the case," he said.

Cormann said he expected Amazon would be among the companies covered under the new rules. The OECD has been instrumental in drawing up new international tax proposals

Reuters

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