The OECD made public its “MLI Matching Database” for tax treaties in beta this week.
The MLI database will assist in determining whether an in-force tax treaty between countries has been modified by the countries’ later decision to sign and ratify the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent BEPS (MLI). The database matches information provided by tax treaty signatories on their MLI positions.
The MLI was developed by the OECD to allow countries to swiftly implement OECD/G20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) measures agreed to by nations in 2015 that are designed to curtail tax avoidance by multinationals and improve tax dispute resolution. Rather than implement the BEPS changes by amending multiple bilateral tax treaties, countries can opt to sign the MLI once to change many tax treaties at the same time.
So far, 69 nations have signed the MLI, with all but one country signing on June 7. No tax treaty has yet been modified by the MLI, though, because, to date, the convention has not been ratified by any pair of signatories to a bilateral tax treaty covered by the MLI.
The OECD said the tool is a preliminary version that will be enhanced over time; suggestions on how to improve the tool are requested.
