OECD Releases Tax Convention Update

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Bussels

24 May 2010

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Committee on Fiscal Affairs has released the draft contents of the 2010 update to the Model Tax Convention.

Prepared by Working Party 1 of the Committee, the update is now due to be submitted for approval of the Committee in June and the OECD Council in July.

The 2010 update will include the changes that were previously released for comments in the following discussion drafts:

• The granting of treaty benefits with respect to the income of collective investment vehicles;
• Revised discussion draft of a new Article 7 of the OECD Model Tax Convention;
• Application of tax treaties to state-owned entities, including sovereign wealth funds;
• Tax treaty issues related to common telecommunication transactions;
• Revised changes to the commentary on paragraph 2 of Article 15.

The OECD explained that as all the substantive contents of the 2010 update have previously been released for comments through these discussion drafts, this draft is released for information only and not for additional comments.

The update will also include a number of changes to OECD countries’ reservations and observations and to non-OECD countries’ positions which will be added to the update in the next few weeks. Among these will be the elimination of all reservations and positions on Article 26 (Exchange of Information), which the OECD Council has already approved.

The Committee on Fiscal Affairs has been asked to discuss and approve the draft update at its June 2010 meeting. A revised version of the Model Tax Convention that will incorporate the changes made through the update is expected to be released in September following approval by the OECD Council.

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