London – Today, the UK’s HM Revenue and Customs published its annual tax receipts for 2025-26, including the total amount made payable to its digital services tax (DST), which totalled £944m (around US$1.3bn). This amount represents an increase of 17% from the £808m (around $1.1bn) reported in 2024-25 and nearly 10% more than the $866m raised by the digital services tax in France in 2024. The UK DST appears to remain the largest in the world.
The U.S. government remains strongly opposed to the UK’s digital services tax, which it determined in January 2021 to be unreasonable or discriminatory and as burdening or restricting U.S. commerce, and thus actionable under Section 301. Statements from the Administration, made during U.S.–UK trade negotiations, alongside ongoing congressional scrutiny and an early executive order, signal strong U.S. opposition, particularly in response to the mounting costs the UK’s DST imposes on American firms. Such opposition has contributed to enacted and proposed DSTs in Canada, Pakistan, India, and New Zealand being abandoned.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association has advocated for open markets for more than 50 years. CCIA has supported global tax reforms through the OECD and opposed digital services taxes.
The following can be attributed to CCIA Vice President, Digital Trade Jonathan McHale:
“Looking ahead, the U.S. Administration is strongly considering reviving existing Section 301 investigations covering DSTs in the UK and other jurisdictions, where the record is already well established. While there have been encouraging signs at the OECD toward rethinking taxation of the digitized economy, the UK remains out of step: as others move away from digital-specific taxes, it continues to rely on a DST that is both discriminatory and growing, as reflected in the latest receipts. Absent a clear path to phase out this distortive regime, countermeasures will be inevitable.”
