LONDON (Reuters) – The world is one millimetre away from a deal on global corporate taxes and an agreement could be signed in Washington next week or at the G20, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Wednesday.
An updated draft of a global corporate tax overhaul has dropped “at least” from a proposed minimum rate of “at least 15%”, possibly clearing a major hurdle for Ireland as negotiations enter a final stretch, sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
“I’m fully determined to pave the way for a consensus because we are one millimetre away from a global agreement on a new international taxation system for the 21st century, and we should not lose the opportunity to build this new taxation system,” Le Maire told CNBC.
“We could either next week during the Washington meetings, or at the G20 meeting in Rome at the end of October, sign the final agreement under the international taxation system.”
Le Maire said that some states were asking for a 10 year implementation period, and “why not?”, adding there would need to be compromise.
“The key point is to have an agreement being adopted, no later than the end of this month, on the new international taxation system,” he said
“I can wait some more days. I’m not saying some more weeks, or some more months, but I’m ready to wait some more days, so that we can find a compromise with all the member states of the OECD.”
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Alistair Smout)
