Finance Act 2015

Country-by-country reporting

33. The Principal Act is amended in Chapter 3 of Part 38 by inserting the following after section 891G (inserted by section 74 ):

“891H. (1) In this section—

‘constituent entity’, ‘fiscal year’, ‘MNE group’, ‘qualifying competent authority agreement’, ‘reporting entity’, ‘surrogate parent entity’, ‘systemic failure’ and ‘ultimate parent entity’, have the meanings given to them respectively by Article 1 of the OECD model legislation;

‘competent authority’ means a competent authority for the purposes of a qualifying competent authority agreement;

‘income tax’ means income tax or corporation tax or any foreign tax that corresponds to income tax or corporation tax in the State;

‘country-by-country report’, in relation to an MNE group, means a report that contains the information set out in subsection (4) ;

‘OECD’ means the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development;

‘OECD model legislation’ means the Model Legislation Related to Country-by-Country Reporting contained in Annex IV to Chapter V of the OECD Report of 2015;

‘OECD Report of 2015’ means the ‘Transfer Pricing Documentation and Country-by-Country Reporting, Action 13 - 2015 Final Report’ published by the OECD on 5 October 2015.

(2) An ultimate parent entity, which is resident in the State for tax purposes, of an MNE group, shall provide to the Revenue Commissioners not later than 12 months after the last day of its fiscal year, being a fiscal year commencing on or after 1 January 2016, a country-by-country report with respect to the MNE group which relates to that year.

(3) An ultimate parent entity, which is resident in the State for tax purposes, of an MNE group, shall notify the Revenue Commissioners, within the period specified and in such manner as is provided for in regulations to be made under this section, that the ultimate parent entity is an ultimate parent entity for the purposes of this section.

(4) A country-by-country report provided under subsection (2) shall contain the following information in respect of the MNE group concerned:

(a) with regard to each jurisdiction in which the MNE group concerned operates, aggregate information relating to the amount of its—

(i) revenue, including such further information in relation to such revenue as is necessary to complete the Model Template for the Country-by-Country Report set out in Annex III to Chapter V of the OECD Report of 2015,

(ii) profit or loss before income tax,

(iii) income tax paid,

(iv) income tax accrued,

(v) stated capital,

(vi) accumulated earnings,

(vii) number of employees, and

(viii) tangible assets other than cash or cash equivalents;

(b) information setting out—

(i) the identification of each constituent entity of the MNE group concerned,

(ii) the jurisdiction of tax residence of such constituent entity and, where different from such jurisdiction of tax residence, the jurisdiction under the laws of which such constituent entity is organised, and

(iii) the nature of the main business activity or activities of such constituent entity.

(5) The Revenue Commissioners shall make regulations under this section with respect to the manner and form in which a country-by-country report is to be provided.

(6) Regulations made under this section may, in particular—

(a) make provision for a surrogate parent entity or an entity described in paragraph (2) of Article 2 of the OECD model legislation, as the case may be, to provide a country-by-country report to the Revenue Commissioners,

(b) determine the date by which a surrogate parent entity or an entity described in paragraph (2) of Article 2 of the OECD model legislation, as the case may be, is required to provide a country-by-country report to the Revenue Commissioners,

(c) make provision to amend the information to be included in a country-by-country report required to be provided by an entity described in paragraph (2) of Article 2 of the OECD model legislation,

(d) require an ultimate parent entity, a surrogate parent entity or an entity described in paragraph (2) of Article 2 of the OECD model legislation, as the case may be, to notify the Revenue Commissioners within the period specified, and in such manner as is specified, that the ultimate parent entity, surrogate parent entity or entity described in paragraph (2) of Article 2 of the OECD model legislation, as the case may be, are such entities,

(e) require a constituent entity resident in the State for tax purposes which is not the ultimate parent entity, surrogate parent entity or entity described in paragraph (2) of Article 2 of the OECD model legislation, as the case may be, to notify the Revenue Commissioners within a period and in such manner as is to be specified, of the identity and jurisdiction of tax residence of the reporting entity,

(f) provide for the serving of a notice to a constituent entity resident in the State for tax purposes that there has been a systemic failure by the state of tax residence of the parent entity,

(g) specify and modify, as required, the manner and form in which a country-by-country report is to be provided,

(h) make provision as to how information contained in a country-by- country report is to be used,

(i) make provision for preserving the confidentiality of the information contained in a country-by-country report, and

(j) contain such supplemental and incidental matters as appear to the Revenue Commissioners to be necessary—

(i) to enable entities to fulfil their obligations under this section or regulations made under this section, and

(ii) for the operation, administration and implementation of this section or regulations made under this section.

(7) Section 898O shall apply to—

(a) a failure by a reporting entity to provide a country-by-country report to the Revenue Commissioners as required by this section or by regulations made under this section, and

(b) the provision of an incorrect or incomplete country-by-country report under this section or regulations made under this section,

as it applies to a failure to make a return or to the making of an incorrect or incomplete return referred to in section 898O.

(8) (a) A reporting entity required by this section, or by regulations made under this section, to provide a country-by-country report to the Revenue Commissioners shall, in relation to that report have available for inspection, on the request of an officer of the Revenue Commissioners, such records as may reasonably be required for the purposes of determining whether the report is correct and complete.

(b) The records referred to in paragraph (a) —

(i) shall be prepared on a timely basis and subsection (3) of section 886 shall apply to such records as it applies to records required by that section, and

(ii) shall be retained by the reporting entity concerned for a period of 6 years beginning at the end of the fiscal year to which the country-by-country report relates.

(c) Sections 900 and 901 shall apply, with any necessary modification—

(i) to records referred to in paragraph (a) as if they were books, records or other documents within the meaning of section 900, and

(ii) to information, explanations and particulars that the authorised officer, within the meaning of those sections, may reasonably require, being information, explanations and particulars which are related to, or in connection with, a country-by-country report.

(9) Every regulation made under this section shall be laid before Dáil Éireann as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by Dáil Éireann within the next 21 days on which Dáil Éireann has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

(10) Notwithstanding section 851A, the Revenue Commissioners are authorised to communicate to the competent authority of a state, other than the State, information which is contained in a country-by-country report required under this section or in regulations made under this section, provided that there is a qualifying competent authority agreement in place which allows for the exchange of such information.

(11) Any word or expression which has a meaning given to it by Article 1 of the OECD model legislation shall, where it is used in regulations made under this section and unless the contrary intention appears, have the same meaning in those regulations as it has in that OECD model legislation.”.