Singaporean BEPS Treaty Amendments Become Effective

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

05 April 2019

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has announced that the BEPS multilateral instrument entered into force for several of its double tax treaties on April 1, 2019.

From April 1, amendments have become effective to the territory's DTAs with Australia, Austria, France, the Isle of Man, Israel, Japan, Jersey, Lithuania, Malta, New Zealand, Poland, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom.

Singapore deposited its instrument of ratification for the MLI in December 2018.

The BEPS MLI, developed through negotiations involving more than 100 countries and jurisdictions as part of the OECD's BEPS project, is intended to enable countries to incorporate BEPS-related amendments into their tax treaties without having to renegotiate bilateral treaties on a piecemeal basis.

The instrument will implement minimum standards to counter treaty abuse (BEPS Action 6), prevent the artificial avoidance of permanent establishment status (BEPS Action 7), neutralize the effects of hybrid mismatch arrangements (BEPS Action 2), and improve dispute resolution mechanisms (BEPS Action 14).

The MLI is designed to provide flexibility to accommodate specific tax treaty policies. Details of the amendments to Singapore's aforementioned treaties are listed on IRAS's website.

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