Multilateral Instrument
The multilateral instrument (“MLI”) implements the treaty-related anti-tax avoidance measures of the BEPS project in bilateral tax treaties. A total of 90 jurisdictions have signed the MLI to date, and more jurisdictions have expressed their intention to do so. The number of countries that have ratified the MLI has further increased during 2019, and even more countries are expected to complete the ratification procedure in the near future. The current status is that the MLI has entered into force, or will enter into force as of 1 February 2020, for 37 jurisdictions. A regularly updated overview of the signatories and ratifications is available here. Our four home market countries (the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland) also completed the MLI ratification procedure during 2019. This means that the MLI has now entered into force for the Netherlands (on 1 July 2019), Belgium (on 1 October 2019), Luxembourg (on 1 August 2019) and Switzerland (on 1 December 2019). As a result, many bilateral tax treaties concluded by our home market countries with other countries that have also ratified the MLI will be impacted. The earliest date the MLI will apply in practice for our home market countries is 1 January 2020. The MLI will also affect the tax treaties between each of our home market countries, with the exception of the Switzerland-Netherlands tax treaty, the Switzerland-Belgium tax treaty and the Netherlands-Belgium tax treaty, which have been or will be updated bilaterally to the BEPS minimum standards.
