Developing Nations Urge UN to Make Changes to Service Taxation

Developing countries are urging a United Nations committee to take a more expansive approach to taxation of services and to recognize that poorer nations may need some special, added help on mechanisms to help resolve tax disputes.

But richer countries told the committee that the UN should largely stick with current methods of taxing services, including digital services, and should focus on making existing dispute-resolution approaches better.

Service-taxation rules should reflect current business models from globalization and digitalization, as opposed to “outdated principles” like physical presence, the UN’s Africa Group of nations said in filings to the committee released Tuesday. ...