Finance ministers of G20 countries on Saturday agreed to go for common rules to plug l
oopholes in corporate taxes exploited by technology giants like Facebook and Google.
“It sounds like we have a strong consensus,” US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at a two-day meeting of G20 finance ministers in the southern Japan city of Fukuoka, according to a Reuters report.
Several quarters have criticised Facebook, Google, Amazon, and other large tech companies for unfair tax practices by booking profits in low-tax countries regardless of the location of the end customer.
The new rules will mean higher tax burdens for these large multi-national firms. The G20 move will also make it more difficult for countries like Ireland to attract foreign direct investments with promises of low corporate tax rates.