El Paquete Europeo (2018) en materia de Fiscalidad de la Economía Digital

Abstract

his piece of work exposes in a basic way the European package of measures related to the taxation of the digital economy (A Fair and Efficient Tax System in the European Union for the Single Market) that was presented by the European Commission, on March 21, 2018.The Commission's proposals on taxation of the digital economy came just a few days after the OECD had submitted its «Interim report» on «Tax Challenges Arising from Digitalization» (March 16, 2018), and in that sense they represent the first movement of the EU in this context. In this sense, the EU Commission proposals on fair taxation for the digital economy (2018), make clear the lack of international consensus on this matter and how the EU could be trying to lead the direction of the changes in the international tax system through measures that implement fiscal unilateralism and to some extent erode the multilateral tax coordination consensus derived from the BEPS project.Basically, the EU Commission presented two major measures: a) a proposal for a Directive from the Commission to the Council, establishing the rules related to the corporate taxation of a significant digital presence; and b) a proposal for a Directive from the Commission to the Council on the establishment of a common system of tax on digital services on income resulting from the provision of digital services. These two measures —Digital Services Tax and Virtual Permanent Establishment— are examined through this work, which ends with some remarks and interim conclusions on its potential implications, since these EU proposals (and the OECD reports on the taxation of the digital economy) can end up reopening the Pandora's box of the reform of the international tax system.