PARIS: France has called for European Union finance ministers to discuss a U.S. tax overhaul approved by the Senate at the weekend over concerns about the impact on EU subsidiaries in the United States, French finance ministry sources said on Monday.
France asked that the issue be raised at a regular meeting of EU finance ministers on Tuesday in Brussels after the U.S. Senate approved the sweeping reform by a narrow margin on Saturday.
“If these reforms materialize as they stand now, it could create serious difficulties,” one of the sources said.
“There are undoubtedly good reasons to signal to the Americans that we are going to have complicated talks with you if you continue in this direction,”
Of particular concern is an aspect of the reform that would give the U.S. government a broader scope to tax European subsidiaries on goods they sell in the United States, the second source said.
“This would be very different system from what we have now and from what is called for by international tax conventions,” the second source added.
After Senators approved the bill at the weekend, talks will begin, likely next week, between the Senate and the House of Representatives, which already has approved its own version of the legislation, to reconcile their respective bills.
The discussions on Tuesday are aimed at finding out which countries have concerns, and not about whether to come up with countermeasures, the sources said.
