The EU has published the Council Directive (EU) 2025/872 of 14 April 2025 amending Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation (DAC9) in the Official Journal of the European Union on 6 May 2025.

The directive (DAC9) will extend cooperation and information exchange in the area of minimum effective corporate taxation. DAC9 complements the Pillar 2 Directive (Directive (EU) 2022/2523) by streamlining filing obligations for multinational enterprise groups (MNEs) that are within its scope. DAC9 introduces a centralised framework for the exchange of the information contained in those filings.

Directive (EU) 2022/2523 already establishes the rules for filing Top-up tax information returns. It outlines broadly the information categories to be reported by the multinational enterprise (‘MNE’) groups and large-scale domestic groups covered by that Directive. The tax administrations need the Top-up tax information returns to perform an appropriate risk assessment, to evaluate the correctness of the tax liability, and to monitor whether MNE groups and large-scale domestic groups apply the rules established in Directive (EU) 2022/2523 correctly.

The new rules on automatic exchange of information allow ultimate parent entities or designated filing entities of an MNE group to centrally file the Top-up tax information return under Directive (EU) 2022/2523. This removes the need for other constituent entities in different EU Member States to file separately.

DAC9 includes filing rules and a standard template for the Top-up tax information return. Member States must adopt and publish the necessary laws and regulations to comply with DAC9 by 31 December 2025.

Earlier, on 14 April 2025, the Council of the EU announced the formal adoption of changes to the Directive on administrative cooperation in taxation (Directive 2011/16/EU) to simplify filing obligations under the Pillar 2 Directive (DAC9).