G20 backs company tax crackdown

The leaders of the G20 have signed up to a new plan to make multinational companies pay more taxes, according to officials.

The leaders of the world’s leading economies backed proposals to make it harder for multinationals like Google and Apple to hide money in tax havens, and also to force companies to pay tax in the countries where they make profits

The head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Angel Gurria, said the leaders signed on to the plan at the G20 summit in St Petersburg, Russia.

But it could take years to get the new tax treaties and laws into place, and advocacy groups said poor countries should also be included.