PRAGUE (Reuters) – The Czech government approved on Wednesday a bill allowing the taxation of large multinational companies which tend to book their profits in countries with a lower tax burden.
The bill affects firms whose annual revenues exceeded 750 million euros ($817.05 million) in at least two of the past four years. The aim is for multinationals to pay a profit tax of at least 15%.
“We will join countries which refuse to allow corporate profits to be diverted into tax havens,” Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura said during a televised press conference.
The bill has to be approved by the parliament and signed by the president to become a law. It is based on a European Union directive approved last December as a part of an OECD/G20 initiative to face the digitalisation of the economy.
The Finance Ministry expects the new tax raise the annual state budget revenues by 4-6 billion crowns ($181-$271 million).
($1 = 0.9179 euros)
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($1 = 22.1070 Czech crowns)
(Reporting by Robert Muller, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)