As multinational enterprise groups [MNE Groups] are active in different countries, they have the possibility of engaging in aggressive tax-planning practices that are not available for domestic small and medium-sized enterprises. Tax authorities need comprehensive and relevant information on MNE Groups regarding their structure, transfer-pricing policy and internal transactions. Such information will enable tax authorities to react to harmful tax practices and to identify whether companies have engaged in practices that have the effect of artificially shifting substantial amounts of income into tax-advantaged environments. Increased transparency could have the effect of giving MNE Groups an incentive to abandon certain practices and pay their fair share of tax in the country where profits are made. Enhancing transparency for MNE Groups is therefore an essential part of tackling base erosion and profit shifting.
In view of this, the Council of the European Union adopted EU Council Directive 2016/881/EU (commonly known as ‘DAC4’) that extended the cooperation between EU tax authorities to automatic exchange of country-by-country [CbC] reports. CbC reporting requires MNE Groups to file a report that will provide a breakdown of the amount of revenue, profits, taxes and other indicators of economic activities for each tax jurisdiction in which the MNE Group does business. The first automatic exchange of such CbC reports will be in June 2018.
Rules for the automatic exchange of information as per DAC4 are in line with international developments and are based on the OECD’s Action 13 of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project. In implementing DAC4, Member States are required to use the 2015 Final Report on Action 13 as a source of illustration or interpretation, as well as to ensure consistency of application across all Member States. Moreover, Malta has signed the OECD’s Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Exchange of CbC Reports on the 26th January 2017 and as a signatory to this MCAA, Malta is thus committed to extend its cooperation to exchanging CbC reports with Non-EU jurisdictions.
DAC4 has been implemented into Maltese legislation by virtue of LN 400 of 2016 entitled the Cooperation with Other Jurisdictions on Tax Matters (Amendment) Regulations, 2016, which regulations amend the Cooperation with Other Jurisdiction on Tax Matters Regulations with effect from 5th June 2017. A copy of the above-mentioned legal notice is available
here. The regulations have also been extended to cover cooperation with Non-EU jurisdictions in December 2017. A copy of this legal notice is available
here.
Guidelines (version 6) in relation to the implementation of DAC4 and the OECD’s Action 13 Final Report issued under the provisions of article 96(2) of the Income Tax Act are available in relation to the implementation of DAC4 and the OECD’s Action 13 Final Report issued under the provisions of article 96(2) of the Income Tax Act are available
here.
Any further queries not covered by these guidelines can be sent by email to
itu.mfin@gov.mt.