FM raises taxation of digital firms at G20

India’s Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman urged G20 countries to resolve the issue of taxation of profits by digital companies in countries where they do not have a significant physical presence. She strongly supported a solution “based on the concept of ‘significant economic presence’ of businesses taking into account the evidence of their purposeful and sustained interaction with the economy of a country”. This challenge of taxing profits is evident with companies like Facebook, Google and Netflix, who have little presence in India. Due to this, the government introduced equalization levy as a tax deducted at source on payments that they have made to Indian firms. The levy is effective since June 2016.