Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Taxation, Technology

Photo: valitsus.ee

In addition to the taxation of the digital economy, Ratas and Moscovici ahead of an informal meeting of economic and financial affairs minister of the European Union in Tallinn also discussed the future of the European Economic and Monetary Union and the prospects of centrally developing EU customs information systems, spokespeople for the Estonian government said.

"International tax rules have become outdated and do not take into account the specifics of companies using digital assets and solutions. This is why companies using digital solutions pay less taxes than so-called traditional companies. In public there is talk on that topic mostly about internet giants such as Google and Facebook, but in reality it concerns the whole digital economy. The question lies in fair taxation and in the questions where and when the taxes are paid," Ratas said.

The prime minister said that work must be done towards finding long-term global solutions as digital economy has no state borders.

Ratas said that now especially is the right time to talk about updating the eurozone and decreasing tax burdens as the European economy is growing steadily for the fifth year in a row. There are currently uniform customs rules in the European Union but information systems meant for fulfilling those rules are developed by each country themselves. Ratas said that developing 28 different customs information systems is not effective.

Economic and financial affairs ministers of the European Union are to meet in Tallinn on Friday and Saturday to discuss the taxation of the digital economy, the future of the eurozone as well as the joint development of the customs information systems. All these topics are among the priorities of the Estonian presidency of the Council of the European Union.