The Austrian Ministry of Finance (MoF) has published draft legislation to implement the Master File in line with the new OECD standard. The legislation includes a requirement to prepare a Master file, Local file(s), and CbCR. The new requirements are expected to be effective for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2016. The Ministry of Finance has requested comments be submitted by 31 May 2016.

-Master file: All entities belonging to a MNE group that are tax resident in Austria would have to prepare a Master file. The Master File would provide comprehensive information of the MNE group. Austrian entity would be exempt from the Master file documentation requirement if it has a turnover equal to or below €50 million or intra-group sales commission equal to or below €5 million.

-Local file: Austria has proposed draft legislation to introduce local file requirement as per the recommendations of the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) Action 13. A local file will contain specific transfer pricing information for each relevant country of operation.

-CbC reporting requirement: The Austrian Ministry of Finance (MoF) has published draft legislation to introduce the country-by-country reporting rules pursuant to the OECD’s three-tier transfer pricing documentation approach for the fiscal years starting on or after 1 January 2016. Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) or a local subsidiary with a global consolidated group turnover exceeding €750 million in the previous year would be required to submit country-by country reports containing the information in Annex III of the OECD’s BEPS Action 13 final recommendations.

-Penalty for non-compliance: The published draft legislation of Austria has proposed a maximum penalty of €80,000 if the CbC reporting requirements are not met. The Austrian draft legislation does not include any penalties for the Master file and the Local file.