As part of continuing efforts to boost transparency by multinational enterprises (MNEs), 31 countries have signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) for the automatic exchange of Country-by-Country reports. The signing ceremony marks an important milestone towards implementation of theOECD/G20 BEPS Project and a significant increase in cross-border cooperation on tax matters. It was jointly developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G20 to provide governments with solutions for modernising international tax rules.

The MCAA will enable consistent and swift implementation of new transfer pricing reporting standards developed under Action 13 of the BEPS Action Plan. It will ensure that tax administrations obtain a complete understanding of the way MNEs structure their operations, while also ensuring that the confidentiality of such information is safeguarded.

The signatories are – Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

The project refers to tax planning strategies that exploit the gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low or no-tax locations where there is little or no economic activity, resulting in little or no overall corporate tax being paid.