The Group of Seven top advanced economies are close to an accord on the corporate taxation of multinationals, paving the way for a global deal later in the year to create new rules for the imposition of levies on the world’s largest companies.

A G7 pact could be sealed as early as Friday after progress was made among top officials in recent days — and would be a powerful force and prerequisite for a deal in the formal negotiations taking place at the OECD in Paris and directed by the wider G20.

An OECD agreement would probably lead to the largest shake-up in international corporate taxation for a century, severely curtailing the ability of companies to shift profits to low tax jurisdictions and ensuring that US digital giants paid more tax in the countries where they made sales.