UK and International Tax news

Update On OECD Model Tax Convention

Monday 14th June 2010

The OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs has recently released the draft contents of the 2010 update to the OECD model tax convention prepared by working party 1 of the committee. The update will 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;
  • A 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.

All of the substantive contents of the 2010 Update have previously been released for comments through these discussion drafts and therefore this latest 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. Within 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 incorporating the changes made through the update is expected to be released in September following approval by the OECD Council.

If you would like further information on the above, please contact Keith Rushen on +44 (0)20 7486 2378

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