31 countries signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) on 28 January 2016, which will bring greater sharing of information in international tax matters. The MCCA provides for the automatic exchange of Country-by-Country reports, enabling tax administrations to obtain a complete understanding of how multinational enterprise operations are structured across the value chain, while ensuring the confidentiality of such information.
‘Country-by-Country reporting will have an immediate impact in boosting international co-operation on tax issues, by enhancing the transparency of multinational enterprises’ operations,’ said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría. ‘Under this multilateral agreement, information will be exchanged between tax administrations, giving them a single, global picture on the key indicators of multinational businesses. This is a much-needed tool towards the goal of ensuring that companies pay their fair share of tax, and would not have been possible without the BEPS Project.’
The signing ceremony is an important milestone towards implementation of the various guidelines of the OECD/G20 BEPS project and represents significantly increased co-operation on cross-border tax matters.
The countries which have signed up are:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
For more information in this respect, please read the full press release.
It is mandatory for organisations to comply with the detailed data requests and to act now to assess the data to be disclosed as regards the risks. For more insights into the Country-by-Country reporting and understanding the implications for your organisation, please contact us.
