Australia expanding tax treaty network

Australia expanding tax treaty network

The Australian government is expanding its tax treaty network to provide improved certainty to taxpayers and guard against tax avoidance practices.

New negotiations are planned with Bulgaria, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. These countries add to the current program which includes Portugal, Slovenia, Greece, and Luxembourg.Continue Reading

OECD releases peer review reports on tax treaty shopping and abuse

OECD releases peer review reports on tax treaty shopping and abuse

The data compiled for this peer review demonstrate that the BEPS Multilateral Instrument has been the tool used by the vast majority of jurisdictions that have begun implementing the Action 6 minimum standard, and that the MLI has started to impact tax treaties of jurisdictions that have ratified it.Continue Reading

India, Hong Kong tax treaty to take effect from April 2019

India, Hong Kong tax treaty to take effect from April 2019

The tax treaty provides for a low withholding tax rate of five percent for dividend payments. Interest, royalties, and fees are subject to a low withholding tax rate of ten percent.Continue Reading

India, China Sign Tax Treaty Protocol to Implement BEPS Minimum Standards

India, China Sign Tax Treaty Protocol to Implement BEPS Minimum Standards

India has signed a Protocol to amend its tax treaty with China.

The Protocol incorporates changes required to implement tax treaty-related minimum standards agreed under the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project.
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New Japan, Spain Tax Treaty to Include MAP Arbitration

New Japan, Spain Tax Treaty to Include MAP Arbitration

Japan and Spain signed a new tax treaty on October 16. The tax treaty wholly amends the existing tax treaty between Japan and Spain, which entered into force in 1974.

As per the new tax treaty, a withholding tax exemption applies to investment income from interest and royalties. Withholding tax on dividends is also exempt in certain situations.Continue Reading

Guernsey Signs New Tax Treaty With UK

Guernsey Signs New Tax Treaty With UK

Guernsey has signed a new tax treaty with the UK. The new tax treaty replaces the one that has been in force since 1951.

The new tax treaty is based, broadly, on the OECD Model Tax Convention, which Guernsey has generally followed in its negotiations with other jurisdictions in recent years. The text of the tax treaty incorporates some of the recent international standards designed to prevent base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). Continue Reading

UAE Joins BEPS Inclusive Framework

UAE Joins BEPS Inclusive Framework

The UAE has newly joined the OECD’s Inclusive Framework on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS).

The Inclusive Framework on BEPS allows interested countries and jurisdictions to work with the OECD and Group of Twenty nations on monitoring the implementation of the BEPS proposals.Continue Reading

Revised India-Qatar Tax Treaty to Include BEPS Minimum Standards

Revised India-Qatar Tax Treaty to Include BEPS Minimum Standards

India’s Union Cabinet has approved revision of the country’s tax treaty with Qatar.

The revised tax treaty includes a limitation of benefits clause to prevent treaty shopping. It meets the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) minimum standards on treaty abuse (BEPS Action 6) and mutual agreement procedure (BEPS Action 14).Continue Reading

Indian Cabinet Approves Tax Treaty with Iran

Indian Cabinet Approves Tax Treaty with Iran

The Indian Government has approved the country’s tax treaty with Iran.

The tax treaty is in line with the ones entered into by India with other countries. The proposed treaty also meets tax treaty-related minimum standards proposed under the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting project, in which India is participating on an equal footing.Continue Reading

Ireland, Ghana Sign New Tax Treaty

Ireland, Ghana Sign New Tax Treaty

Ireland and Ghana signed a new tax treaty on February 7, 2018. The procedures to ratify the treaty are underway.

Ireland is also negotiating and renegotiating existing treaties with foreign jurisdictions.

 According to the tax authority, Ireland’s existing treaty base will also be updated to incorporate provisions set out in the Multilateral Convention to implement tax treaty-related measures to prevent base erosion and profit shifting.