The Lead Story
France’s Budget Rebels Target Big Tech,Again
The French National Assembly lit a fiscal firecracker this week, green-lighting two last-minute amendments that would force multinational companies to pay more tax in France, Reuters reports. Lawmakers okayed (1) a brand-new levy tied to a firm’s worldwide revenues and (2) a doubling of France’s existing digital services tax.
Why is Paris suddenly turning the screws? Budget negotiations for 2026 have been rocky, and backbenchers say global giants should shoulder a bigger share. The amendments sailed through first reading even though the finance ministry warned they could breach tax treaties and chill foreign investment. “This is about fairness,” one supporter argued during the overnight debate.
Under the plan, companies crossing a €750 million global-sales threshold would face the extra charge, while the digital tax rate would jump from 3% to 6%. Critics inside the government call the move symbolic,and potentially costly if retaliatory tariffs follow. The measures must still survive the Senate and a final parliamentary vote, so nothing is set in stone.
The reaction was swift: business groups flagged treaty risk, and tax pros noted that the proposals land just as the OECD’s Pillar One deal wobbles. For now, CFOs with French exposure are modeling worst-case scenarios and eyeing whether Brussels,or Washington,will push back.
Around the Tax World
• OBBBA blows a $276 billion hole. Tweaks to the Section 250 deduction will cut U.S. corporate tax receipts by $276 billion over 2026-35, the Penn Wharton Budget Model finds,more than double Congress’s own score.
• India gives (some) filers breathing room. The CBDT has moved the income-tax return deadline for audit cases to 10 December, but left transfer-pricing reports unchanged, unnerving multinationals (Business Standard).
• Netflix wins a ₹445 crore rerun. Mumbai’s ITAT ruled the streamer a limited-risk distributor, scrapping a chunky transfer-pricing adjustment (CNBCTV18).
• ERP upgrade, VAT headache. Companies migrating to SAP S/4HANA are using the moment to bolt on automated tax engines that meet the EU’s looming e-invoicing rules (VATCalc).
• Transfer pricing on the hot seat. KPMG warns that public CbC reporting and tougher CRA audits will make 2026 a pressure cooker for Canadian multinationals (KPMG).
Tax Stat of the Day
$276,000,000,000 , the projected 10-year revenue loss from OBBBA’s revamped international rules, per Penn Wharton. That’s more than the GDP of Finland.
Looking Ahead
All eyes now turn to the French Senate, where the global-revenue levy could be sliced out as early as mid-November. Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury staff are poring over OBBBA’s score with hearings rumored for December.
Prepared by MyTax - mytax.com.ng