Politico reports:

The world’s biggest companies like Facebook and Johnson & Johnson face an extra collective tax bill of hundreds of billions of dollars after 136 countries on Friday signed a detailed plan to overhaul international corporate tax rules.

The U.S., the U.K., China, India and all EU countries signed off on the international accord, negotiated under the stewardship of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were the handful of the 140 nations involved in the negotiations that decided against signing on.

The deal aims to ensure that the world’s 100 biggest companies pay taxes on their operations and sales around the globe, while introducing an international effective minimum corporate tax rate of 15 percent. The global tax rate would allow countries, collectively, to pocket an additional $150 billion in yearly tax revenue, while the levy would split a separate $125 billion in corporate tax receipts between participating governments worldwide.

The global deal, which must still be approved by G20 leaders later this month and will likely take at least two years to implement, represents the first wholesale revamp of the corporate tax regime in decades. It comes amid ongoing tension between the U.S. and Europe over how these proposals should apply to companies operating in their jurisdictions. Officials worldwide are seeking new revenue sources to pay for the economic recovery associated with the COVID-19 crisis. [Continue reading…]