On 12 October 2020, Australian taxation office (ATO) release new guidance about the general anti-abuse rules in any of Australia’s tax treaties has been finalized and published.
Law Administration Practice Statement PS LA 2020/2 Administering general anti-abuse rules, such as a principal or main purposes test, included in any of Australia’s tax treaties sets out guidance, instructions and administrative processes for ATO staff to follow to ensure consistent and good decision making when administering these general anti-abuse rules.
The PS LA 2020/2 covers the administration of the following purposes tests:
- The Principal Purposes Test under paragraph 1 of Article 7 of the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (MLI) as it applies to a Covered Tax Agreement (CTA) (the MLI PPT);
- A Principal Purposes Test in an Australian tax treaty that is not a CTA;
- A Main Purposes Test in an Australian tax treaty that is yet to be or will not be modified by the MLI.
Australia has adopted the MLI PPT which can operate to deny treaty benefits if obtaining that benefit was one of the principal purposes of the arrangement. The test will be implemented in most of Australia’s tax treaties through the operation of the MLI.
