On or about 31 January 2020, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has updated its website contents on Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (MLI).
Singapore has participated in the negotiation of the MLI in furtherance of its commitment to implement the minimum standard on preventing treaty abuse. The MLI seeks to allow jurisdictions to swiftly amend their tax treaties to implement the tax treaty related Base Erosion and Profit Shifting recommendations. The MLI also improves on the dispute resolution mechanisms.
The IRAS has also illustrated the amendments made by MLI to Singapore’s double tax agreements (DTAs) with other countries. The DTAs will only be amended if Singapore’s treaty partners also choose to amend the DTAs using the MLI. The DTAs that will be amended by MLI are referred to as Covered Tax Agreements under the MLI.
Signatories to the MLI have the discretion to choose the provisions in the MLI to be implemented and a Covered Tax Agreement will be amended only if both treaty partners share the same position on the provisions of the MLI. The agreed changes to a Covered Tax Agreement will enter into effect after the treaty partner has also ratified the MLI.
You may view the list of DTAs and those other jurisdictions would like to amend using the MLI, and the positions that Singapore and the other jurisdictions have adopted for the MLI from the IRAS’s website.
Source: IRAS Website, 31 January 2020