UK ratifies, Estonia signs OECD multilateral instrument on tax avoidance

The OECD announced June 29 that the UK has ratified and Estonia has signed a multilateral tax treaty designed to curtail tax avoidance by multinational groups and ease cross-border tax dispute resolution.

Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, developed by over 100 countries in 2016, is designed to allow countries to swiftly add the results of the OECD/G20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) project into their bilateral tax treaties.

The UK joins seven other countries in ratifying the treaty: Austria, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Poland, Slovenia, Serbia, Sweden, and New Zealand.

Ambassador Alar Streimann, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Estonia to the OECD signed the agreement on behalf of Estonia, bringing to 82 the number of countries joining.