Allocation of the Right to Tax Income from Digital Intermediary Platforms – Challenges and Possibilities for Taxation in the Jurisdiction of the User

The authors analyse the current (lack of) possibilities for userjurisdictions to tax the value generated by the increased use of digital intermediary platforms. Focus is on analysing the possibilities for userjurisdictions to tax the remuneration received by a foreign enterprise owning a digital intermediary platform and on disucussing whether the users’ provision of personal data in exchange for access to the platform could be considered a barter transaction for tax purposes in the userjurisdiction. Among other things, it is concluded that user-jurisdictions, pursuant to current international tax treaties, will normally be precluded from taxing the income of foreign platform enterprises, as the platform enterprises are often able to deliver their digital services remotely. Against this background, a number of tax policy challenges and options of relevance for taxing platform enterprises are discussed, in particular the proposed directive on significant digital presence recently put forward by the European Commisssion. It is concluded that the proposal may prove to be an adequate step towards taxation in the userjurisdictions, even though the proposal needs further work in order to become sufficiently clear and targeted and the scope may be limited.

本文作者分析了当前用户管辖辖区（user jurisdictions）对因数字中介平台（digital intermediary platforms）使用量激增而产生的价值征税的可行性现状（实则缺失）。研究重点聚焦于两大方向：一是分析用户管辖辖区对拥有数字中介平台的外国企业所获报酬征税的可能性；二是探讨在用户管辖辖区范围内，用户为获取平台访问权限而提供个人数据的行为，是否可被认定为税收语境下的易货交易。除此之外，研究得出核心结论：依据现行国际税收协定，用户管辖辖区通常无权对外国平台企业的所得征税，原因在于这类平台企业往往能够远程提供数字服务。在此背景下，本文进一步探讨了若干与平台企业征税相关的税收政策挑战及可行方案，尤其是欧盟委员会（European Commission）新近提出的《显著数字存在拟议指令》。最终研究认为，尽管该提案尚需进一步细化以确保足够清晰且具备针对性，且其适用范围或存在局限，但该提案或可成为推动用户管辖辖区落实数字平台征税的合理举措。