Pakistan Can Now Get Tax Related Information of Multinational Companies From These Countries

Pakistan and 28 countries can legally exchange tax-related information to control the base erosion and profit shifting by the multinational companies under the “Bilateral Full Scope Synthesized Treaties”. On Monday, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) issued an updated list of 28 tax jurisdictions that have now signed the Bilateral Full Scope Synthesized Treaties (double taxation agreements as modified by the Multilateral Instrument” or MLI). The FBR’s list revealed names of these 28 countries including Austria; Belgium; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Canada; Czech Republic; Denmark; Egypt; Finland; Hungary; Indonesia; Ireland; Japan; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Malaysia; Malta; Mauritius; Netherlands; Oman; Poland; Portugal; Qatar; Saudi Arabia; Serbia; Singapore; Sweden; United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. According to a tax expert, over 100 jurisdictions concluded negotiations on the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“Multilateral Instrument” or “MLI”)  that will swiftly implement a series of tax treaty measures to update international tax rules and lessen the opportunity for tax avoidance by multinational enterprises. These were known as the BEPS (Base Erosion Profit Shifting) Protocols, through the BEPS Project of the OECD; which were implemented through multilateral negotiations, and concluded over fifteen Action Plans, which dealt with several different areas of international taxation, and dealt with ways to eliminate tax evasion by profit shifting, and principally were developed to bring the BEPS Action Plans into operation. The (“Multilateral Instrument” or “MLI”) deals with several areas, including Controlled Foreign Companies (CFCs), Digital Economy Taxation, Transfer Pricing, etc.. The MLI already covers 99 jurisdictions and entered into force on July 1, 2018, tax expert added.