Historic agreement: 15% global corporate tax

A historic deal to tax multinational corporations - including tech giants - has been reached by the world's largest economies in a bid to end tax evasion.

The G7 finance ministers met in London, according to the BBC, and agreed on a minimum corporate tax of 15%.

This decision will give a big "breath" to governments around the world, which will see new revenues in their coffers at a time when the coronavirus has caused huge problems.

Among the companies that will be affected are Amazon, Facebook and Google.

The British Minister of Finance, Risi Sunak, spoke of a "moment of pride" and stressed that this development means that "the right companies will pay the right tax, in the right places".

"A historic agreement that finally brings the global tax system into the 21st century," he said, adding that it would make the system fairer.

The G7 proposal is expected to push other countries to follow the same path and it is not ruled out that there may be developments even in the G20 meeting.

Why make changes now?

The richest countries in the world have long been looking for a way to tax large technology companies, which show huge profits but pay little - or no - taxes.

This challenge has been exacerbated by the "explosion" of technology giants, which can now open branches in third countries with very low corporate tax.

The following practices are perfectly legal and are used regularly by large companies.

The G7 decision has two objectives:

First end the "war" of lower taxation and stop countries from reducing their tax rates to attract big business.

And Secondly, companies to pay taxes where they sell their products and services - regardless of where they will subsequently declare their profits.