Biden regime may engage on equalisation levy, but India stance to remain unchanged, say experts

Joe Biden taking charge of the US government may have little impact on India’s stand on imposing equalization levy on e-commerce transactions, as any material change to the levy or the so-called Google tax may take place through negotiations rather than a push back from the US.

Tax experts said that while direct trade negotiations between India and US could have undertones of reaching a common ground on the 2% levy on digital transactions that India imposed from April 1, 2020, the real push will come from discussions in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) provided the US re-engages, after pulling out earlier this year.