PRAGUE The Czech government approved on Wednesday a bill allowing the taxation of large multinational companies which tend to book their profits in countries with a lower tax burden.

The bill affects firms whose annual revenues exceeded 750 million euros ($817.05 million) in at least two of the past four years. The aim is for multinationals to pay a profit tax of at least 15%.

"We will join countries which refuse to allow corporate profits to be diverted into tax havens," Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura said during a televised press conference.

The bill has to be approved by the parliament and signed by the president to become a law. It is based on a European Union directive approved last December as a part of an OECD/G20 initiative to face the digitalisation of the economy.

The Finance Ministry expects the new tax raise the annual state budget revenues by 4-6 billion crowns ($181-$271 million).

($1 = 0.9179 euros)

($1 = 22.1070 Czech crowns)

(Reporting by Robert Muller, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)