An analysis of The press shows that digital multinationals have doubled the sums put aside to pay taxes in the past three years. With the Rancart of the Digital Services tax by Canada, experts expect to see these sums decrease.
Almost 2.2 billions of turnover
The 15 multinationals identified by The press crossed, in 2024, the milestone of the 2 US dollars in turnover. It is 2171 billion, or $ 2.2 million million. Their net profit before taxes reached nearly 588 billion in 2024. The annual reports of these companies also include what is called a “tax provision”. These are not the taxes they have actually paid, underlines Allison Christians, professor of tax law in McGill, but of a sum put aside to deal with their obligations in all countries of the world. This sum exceeded 100 billion in 2024.
Twice as much taxes planned
The main surprise of the analysis of The press is that tax provisions have more than doubled between 2022 and 2024. They increased from 51.6 billion in 2022 to almost 108 billion in 2024. Most multinationals consider the desire of several countries to set up a tax on digital services or OECD negotiations to establish a minimum tax like “risk factors” [leurs] financial conditions and [leurs] Results ”, writes for example Google.
A tax rate that increased
The doubling of tax provisions has made the tax rate of web giants increased, from 15 % in 2022 to 18 % in 2024. A more demanding tax environment, on the international level, is partly responsible, estimates Jean-Pierre Vidal, professor of taxation in the HEC Montreal accounting department. “But other factors could be taken into account, such as increasing their profits,” he said. If the American multinationals “succeed in bringing down the minimum world tax […]it will be necessary to expect it to appear in their next financial statements, ”adds Mr. Vidal, and that the provisions for taxes decrease.
Methodology
The press A selected 15 companies that correspond to several of the criteria of the digital services tax of Canada. They are active in market, advertising, social networks or data services and their global turnover was greater than 750 million euros in 2024. We extracted data from the annual reports submitted by these 15 companies at the Securities and Exchange Commission (Form 10-K). In the cases of two Chinese companies, Tencent and Baidu, the annual reports found on their websites have been used. The financial year of some of these companies does not end on December 31. The amounts have been converted into US dollars using the Banque de Canada annual exchange rates.
