The EUs latest corporate tax overhaul means nothing for Ireland yet.
The two main proposals announced by the European Commission yesterday wont be tabled until 2023, and depend on a global tax deal being reached at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
This is kind of a wild card thrown into the mix, said Gerard Brady, chief economist with the Irish business federation Ibec.
The fear from an Irish point of view is that the EU continues to push forward with unilateral measures, making an agreement at the OECD more difficult and potentially starting a US trade or tariff war.
The Commissions plan is to create a single corporate tax rulebook for the bloc, building on the OECDs two pillars: a new way of calculating and sharing out multinational profits, and a new minimum effective tax rate.
The plan is essentially a rehash of a draft law known as the common consolidated corporate tax base (or CCCTB), which was officially shelved yesterday.
But this time round the EU intends to count intangible assets such as intellectual property towards taxable income.
It will be a difficult line to walk for Ireland.
Even if there is no deal at the OECD, the Government will be affected by domestic tax agenda, which aims to repatriate corporate profits and tax them at 21pc.
And EU tax chief Paolo Gentiloni said the EU would press ahead by 2023 regardless of the OECD talks.
The EU roadmap also pledges a digital levy, a clampdown on shell companies and a move to force multinationals to publish the effective tax rates they pay, country by country.
EU vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis told the Irish Independent that the move was not an attack on the governments 12.5pc corporate tax rate.
There are different corporate tax rates in the EU, and the EU single market is functioning within this framework, so we do not have [the] intention to harmonise or to impose the same corporate tax rate across the EU, he said.
So there is scope for member states pursuing different tax policies.
The Department of Finance said Ireland is focused on achieving a global agreement.