In 2006 the OECD’s Committee on Fiscal Affairs and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) set up an informal consultative group of government and business experts to work on improving the process by which portfolio investors may gain access to treaty benefits. The task of the consultative group was to look at legal and policy issues relating to the access of collective investment vehicles or their investors to treaty benefits; and to consider the procedural aspects for claiming treaty benefits when assets are held indirectly. This resulted in two reports entitled “Granting of treaty benefits with respect to the income of collective investment vehicles” and “Possible improvements to procedures for tax relief for cross-border investors”.
In 2009 a pilot group produced a draft of the implementation package which was released for public consultation in 2010. A dedicated “treaty relief and compliance enhancement” (TRACE) group of government delegates developed the package further in consultation with industry representatives. The revised version of the package, taking into account public comments on the draft, has been approved by the TRACE group and by the OECD’s Committee on Fiscal Affairs. The implementation package was released by the OECD on 11 February 2013.
