The OECD “BEPS” project, in Action Plan 1, has tried to address the tax challenges posed by the digital economy. The particular challenges identified include unparalleled reliance on intangibles, the massive use of data (notably personal data), the widespread adoption of multi-sided business models capturing value from externalities generated by free products and the difficulty of determining the jurisdiction in which value creation occurs. This raises fundamental questions as to how enterprises in the digital economy add value and make their profits, and how the digital economy relates to the concepts of source and residence or the characterisation of income for tax purposes.
Because the digital economy is increasingly becoming the economy itself, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to ring-fence the digital economy from the rest of the economy for tax purposes. The digital economy and its business models present however some key features which are potentially relevant from a tax perspective. These features include mobility, reliance on data, network effects, the spread of multisided business models, a tendency toward monopoly or oligopoly and volatility. The types of business models include several varieties of e-commerce, app stores, online advertising, cloud computing, participative networked platforms, high speed trading, and online payment services. The digital economy has also accelerated and changed the spread of global value chains in which MNEs integrate their worldwide operations.
Against the above background the OECD BEPS project undertook the following work in 2013:
Action 1 – Address the tax challenges of the digital economy
“Identify the main difficulties that the digital economy poses for the application of existing international tax rules and develop detailed options to address these difficulties, taking a holistic approach and considering both direct and indirect taxation. Issues to be examined include, but are not limited to, the ability of a company to have a significant digital presence in the economy of another country without being liable to taxation due to the lack of nexus under current international rules, the attribution of value created from the generation of marketable location relevant data through the use of digital products and services, the characterisation of income derived from new business models, the application of related source rules, and how to ensure the effective collection of VAT/GST with respect to the cross-border supply of digital goods and services. Such work will require a thorough analysis of the various business models in this sector”.
The particular tax challenges of the digital economy required the OECD working parties to examine the issues and to formulate a working program covered in the following articles.
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