Advocacy Encourages Small Businesses to Comment on USTR’s Request for Information on Proposed Actions in Section 301 Investigations of Digital Services Taxes
On Friday, March 26, 2021, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced the next steps in its investigations of digital services taxes (DSTs) in several countries and is seeking public comment on possible actions related to DSTs that have been adopted by Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom that have been found to discriminate against U.S. digital companies, are inconsistent with principles of international taxation, and burdensome to U.S. companies. USTR’s full press release is available here.
USTR issued Federal Register notices seeking public comment on the proposed trade actions in the six countries. Small businesses may have input on the possible trade actions including products identified:
- Austria: Docket Number USTR–2021–0002: Proposed Action in Section 301 Investigation of Austria’s Digital Services Tax.
- India: Docket Number USTR–2021–0003: Proposed Action in Section 301 Investigation of India’s Digital Services Tax
- Italy: Docket Number USTR–2021–0004: Proposed Action in Section 301 Investigation of Italy’s Digital Services Tax
- Spain: Docket Number USTR–2021–0005: Proposed Action in Section 301 Investigation of Spain’s Digital Services Tax
- Turkey: Docket Number USTR–2021–0006: Proposed Action in Section 301 Investigation of Turkey’s Digital Services Tax
- United Kingdom: Docket Number USTR–2021–0007: Proposed Action in Section 301 Investigation of the United Kingdom’s Digital Services Tax
Individuals, companies, or organizations can submit comments and requests to testify on USTR’s portal at https://comments.ustr.gov/s/. Comments are due by April 30, 2021. Requests to testify and a summary of the testimony is due by April 21, 2021. Small businesses are encouraged to self-identify.
- Questions can be addressed to USTR’s Section 301 hotline at 202–395–5725.
- Advocacy contact: Rosalyn Steward at (202) 205-7013 or rosalyn.steward@sba.gov.
- Background on the Section 301 Digital Services Tax investigations and actions can be found on USTR.gov.