Italy will apply national tax on digital firms if no deal on EU-wide levy by end of year

Italy will apply a national tax on digital companies if there is no deal on an EU-wide levy by the end of the year, Finance Minister Giovanni Tria said on Tuesday.

Tria told a streamed meeting of European Union finance ministers that Rome had already introduced a national tax but suspended it pending a possible deal at EU level. If there was no such agreement by the end of the year, Italy would proceed alone, he told ministers.