Global corporate tax overhaul faces a rocky road to completion

G20 finance chiefs due to endorse deal at Venice talks; EU faces battle to turn it into bloc-wide law; US Republican misgivings could add hurdles

A long road strewn with potential political pitfalls lies ahead for countries seeking to end a race to the bottom on international corporate tax, even though 130 of them have agreed to overhaul the way multinationals are taxed.

Nearly all 139 countries involved in talks at the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) last week backed plans for new rules on where companies' profits are taxed, and a rate of at least 15 per cent.

With ink barely dry on the agreement, jubilant politicians in higher-tax countries declared that what French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire termed the "most important