Cameroon Signs BEPS Multilateral Instrument

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

12 July 2017

On July 11, 2017, Cameroon's Finance Minister, Alamine Ousmane Mey, signed the OECD's Multilateral Instrument (MLI), designed to prevent the avoidance of tax through the abuse of double tax avoidance treaties.

The MLI, developed by the OECD under Action 15 of the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project, is intended to transpose BEPS recommendations into over 1,100 tax treaties worldwide. It also includes provisions to improve how treaty disputes are resolved, and to reduce double taxation and improve tax certainty for businesses.

Cameroon will include five of its existing bilateral tax treaties as being "covered" by the MLI. Cameroon has adopted Articles 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, 16, and 17 of the MLI; and has registered reservations on Articles 3, 4, 10, and 11.

So far, 70 countries have signed the MLI, with a further seven expressing their intention to sign the deal.

The first modifications to bilateral tax treaties are expected to enter into effect in early 2018.

TAGS: Finance | africa | tax | business | double tax agreement (DTA) | tax avoidance | Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) | transfer pricing | Cameroon | BEPS