Australia has signed the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“Multilateral Instrument” or “MLI”). The Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Steven Ciobo MP, signed the Convention for Australia at a ceremony hosted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris on 7 June 2017. 67 other jurisdictions also signed the Convention, including 35 of Australia’s bilateral tax treaty partners.
The Convention is a key outcome of the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project, which aims to ensure that multinationals pay tax in the jurisdiction where economic value is created or added.
Once in force, the Convention will modify most of Australia’s bilateral tax treaties to implement new integrity rules that will help prevent exploitation for tax avoidance purposes and improve tax treaty-based dispute resolution mechanisms.
The Convention will enter into force after signatories have completed their domestic requirements and deposited their instruments of ratification with the OECD. Legislation will be introduced into the Australian Parliament as soon as practicable to give the Convention the force of law in Australia.
