Finance Bill — Clause 71 — Annual Reviews of Digital Services Tax — 1 Jul 2020 at 16:30

The majority of MPs voted not to require an annual report to Parliament reviewing the new Digital Services Tax levied on providers of social media, search engines and online marketplaces.

MPs were considering the Finance Bill.^[1]

The motion rejected in this vote was:

• amendment 18, page 53, line 28, leave out “before the end of 2025” and insert—
• “within a year of Royal Assent and annually thereafter”

Had it not been rejected the amendment would have impacted clause 71 of the Bill^[2] which stated:

• Review of DST
• (1) The Treasury must, before the end of 2025, conduct a review of digital services tax and prepare a report of the review.
• (2)The Treasury must lay a copy of the report before Parliament.

The Bill^[2] expands DST to Digital Services Tax, a tax of 2% of UK revenues over £25m/year on social media services, internet search engines, and online marketplaces.

The rejected amendment was accompanied by the following statement from its proposer:

• This amendment would require the Government to report on the DST annually.
• [1] Parliament's webpage on the Finance Bill, Parliament.uk
• [2] Finance Bill as at the time of the vote, Parliament.uk website

Debate in Parliament |