WASHINGTON – The Office of the United States Trade Representative welcomes today’s announcement by the Department of the Treasury that the United States has reached a political agreement with Turkey regarding the treatment of Digital Services Taxes (DSTs) during the interim period prior to full implementation of Pillar 1 of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) agreement.
Under this agreement, and consistent with an earlier agreement with Austria, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, Turkey will remove its existing DSTs prior to the entry into force of Pillar 1 of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s historic agreement on global taxation. In defined circumstances, DST liability that U.S. companies accrue during the interim period will be creditable against future income taxes accrued under Pillar 1 of the OECD agreement.
In return, the United States will terminate the currently-suspended additional duties on goods of Turkey that had been adopted in the DST Section 301 investigation. USTR is proceeding with the formal steps required to terminate this Section 301 trade action, and in coordination with Treasury, will monitor implementation of the agreement going forward.
The Joint Statement from the United States and Turkey Regarding a Compromise on a Transitional Approach to Existing Unilateral Measures During the Interim Period Before Pillar 1 is in Effect may be found here.
The United States remains hopeful that India, the other country covered by the DST investigations, will join a similar agreement.
The Federal Register notice terminating the previously-suspended additional duties on goods of Austria, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom that had been adopted in the Section 301 investigations of those countries’ digital services taxes may be found here.
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