The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said that 129 countries had signed off on a roadmap to grab a fairer tax share of the companies' booming sales.

"Important progress has been made through the adoption of this new programme of work, but there is still a tremendous amount of work to do as we seek to reach, by the end of 2020, a unified long-term solution to the tax challenges posed by digitalisation of the economy," OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria said in a statement.

The OECD said Gurria would seek the blessing of G20 finance ministers for the roadmap when they meet in the Japanese city of Fukuoka on June 8-9.

That meeting is in preparation for a full G20 summit involving US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and their peers in Osaka at the end of June.