Before The DST Settles: United Kingdom Pushes Ahead With Digital Services Tax

On Thursday 11 July 2019, the UK government confirmed that it will bring forward legislation for a new Digital Services Tax (DST) to take effect from April 2020.

The announcement itself did not come as a surprise, and the detailed design of the new tax is, broadly speaking, consistent with what was widely expected. In short, the DST will be a 2% tax on the revenues of search engines, social media platforms and online marketplaces, which derive value from UK users.

This alert analyses the proposed legislation and assesses its possible impact and wider implications.