Pearse Doherty
Question:115. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance when the State will ratify the BEPS multilateral instrument; the process for doing same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37125/17]
View answerMonday, 11 September 2017
Questions (115)
Written answers
The Multilateral Instrument will modify existing bilateral tax treaties to bring them into line with new international best practices agreed as part of the OECD BEPS initiative. Over 70 countries, including Ireland, have already signed up to this Multilateral Instrument.
The Multilateral Instrument must be ratified by Ireland before it can come into effect and amend any of our existing tax treaties. The process involves amending the Taxes Consolidation Act to give Government the legal authority to make an Order ratifying the Multilateral Instrument. As with all international agreements, the making of this Government Order will require Dáil approval.
Once this Order has been made, a second legislative provision will be required to include the Multilateral Instrument in the list of ratified international tax agreements set out in Schedule 24A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997.
My intention is to begin the ratification process as soon as possible and to complete all legislative steps during 2018.