A global deal to set a minimum tax rate for multinationals of 15 per cent achieved a big breakthrough last week, with the EU’s promise to introduce the deal across member states expected to trigger a wave of implementation across the world.

Plans, tabled at the OECD in Paris, to implement a tax floor of 15 per cent were agreed by 136 countries in October last year. But progress in implementing the floor has been slow, with none of the signatories so far making the pledges law.

In the EU, viewed as key to making the tax work because of the large number of multinationals based in the region, Warsaw and Budapest had taken it in turns to block the legislation. But on Thursday, the Council of the European Union, which is made up of ministers from member states, approved a directive to introduce a minimum levy on large multinational businesses, ending months of fraught negotiations.