Most Irish concerns met in updated global tax deal – Deputy PM

October 4, 2021

DUBLIN (Reuters) -An updated text of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s proposed overhaul of global corporate tax rules responds “to a lot, if not all” of the concerns raised by the key holdout, Ireland, its deputy prime minister said on Monday.

Ireland, the low-tax European headquarters for a number of the world’s largest multinationals, has so far declined to sign up to the OECD agreement initially struck by over 130 of 139 negotiating countries in July.  

Ireland chiefly opposed the introduction of a proposed minimum global rate of “at least” 15%, and in particular the inclusion of the phrase “at least.” Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said last week that Ireland would likely sign up if certainty is brought to bear on its concerns.

Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told national broadcaster RTE that the updated text due to be signed off at an OECD meeting on Friday “does respond to a lot, if not all, of the concerns.”

Agreement from Ireland, one of the countries that has benefited most from low corporate taxes, would be a big boost for the project to impose a minimum global rate. Ireland’s long standing corporate tax rate is 12.5%.

The handful of holdouts, which also include fellow EU members Estonia and Hungary, cannot block the proposed changes.

Donohoe has said Dublin would decide whether or not to join the agreement before Friday’s OECD meeting. Ireland’s cabinet, which would have to approve any recommendation from Donohoe, next meets on Thursday.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin, editing by Alistair Smout and Aurora Ellis)

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