UN Panel Aims to Set Model Rules for Taxing Virtual Business

The United Nations approved a plan Tuesday to develop guidance making it easier for developing countries to tax companies without a physical presence within their borders.

A strong majority of the UN’s 25-member committee of tax experts favored coming up with more alternatives to traditional nexus, or rules for establishing a right to tax global businesses.

The committee, meeting this week in Geneva to develop its agenda for the next four years, will work on the new rules by updating sections of the UN’s model tax convention. Developing countries use the model convention as a template to draft legislation and ...