Irish Confident of Signing Up to Global Tax Deal, Minister Says

(Bloomberg) --

Ireland’s government is confident it will be able to sign up to a global accord on a minimum corporate tax rate, a leading minister said.

The cabinet will take a decision on Thursday, Eamon Ryan, environment minister, said in an interview with RTE radio on Tuesday. Ryan leads the Greens, one of the three members of the ruling coalition.

The government will consider the recommendation of Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, who has involved in negotiations on the tax deal, Ryan said. 

“I’m hopeful and confident we will be able to be part of the solution,” he said. “I’m hopeful we will be able to sign up.”

Under the auspices of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 140 countries are attempting to conclude years of negotiations to overhaul global rules to share the spoils from levies on tech giants like Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. There’s a meeting scheduled for Oct. 8. 

Ryan’s comments come a day after a person familiar with the matter said Ireland, a base for Google in Europe, was increasingly confident it would get the requisite assurances to sign up to the deal. 

Officials in Dublin had expressed concern about a proposed minimum rate of “at least” 15% due to concerns it could end up significantly higher than the 12.5% rate currently in force in Ireland. 

Ireland has received a revised text of the OECD statement and implementation plan which will be considered ahead of Friday’s meeting of the group. 

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