Finance Act 2016

Chapter 5

Corporation Tax

Amendment of section 891H of Principal Act (country-by-country reporting)

24. (1) Section 891H of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by substituting the following for subsection (1):

“(1) In this section—

‘constituent entity’, ‘MNE group’, ‘qualifying competent authority agreement’, ‘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;

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

‘domestic constituent entity’ means a constituent entity, that is resident for the purposes of tax in the State, but does not include—

(a) an ultimate parent entity,

(b) a surrogate parent entity, or

(c) an EU designated entity;

‘equivalent country-by-country report’ means a country-by-country report but only to the extent the information required to be included in that report is within the possession of, or is obtained or acquired by, a domestic constituent entity;

‘EU designated entity’ means a constituent entity of an MNE group, not being an ultimate parent entity or surrogate parent entity, that—

(a) is resident in a Member State for tax purposes, and

(b) has been designated as an entity by that MNE group to provide a country-by-country report on behalf of all constituent entities of the MNE group resident for tax purposes in a Member State;

‘fiscal year’ means an annual accounting period, or any such shorter accounting period, with respect to which the ultimate parent entity of the MNE group prepares its financial statements;

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

‘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;

‘reporting entity’ has the meaning given to it by Article 1 of the OECD model legislation and shall be deemed to include an EU designated entity;

‘TIN’ means a unique identification number allocated to a constituent entity by a jurisdiction for the purposes of income tax and, in relation to the State, means a tax reference number within the meaning of section 885.”,

(b) in subsection (4)(b)(i) by inserting “and TIN” after “identification”,

(c) by substituting the following for subsection (6):

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

(a) make provision for a surrogate parent entity or an EU designated entity, as the case may be, to provide a country-by-country report to the Revenue Commissioners,

(b) make provision for a domestic constituent entity to provide a country-by-country report or an equivalent country-by-country report to the Revenue Commissioners,

(c) determine the date by which a surrogate parent entity or an EU designated entity is required to provide a country-by-country report, or a domestic constituent entity is required to provide a country-by-country report or an equivalent country-by-country report, as the case may be, to the Revenue Commissioners,

(d) make provision to amend the information to be included in an equivalent country-by-country report required to be provided by a domestic constituent entity,

(e) require an ultimate parent entity, a surrogate parent entity, an EU designated entity or a domestic constituent entity, 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, EU designated entity or domestic constituent entity, as the case may be, are such entities,

(f) require a domestic constituent entity to notify the Revenue Commissioners, within the period specified, and in such manner as is specified, of the identity and jurisdiction of tax residence of the reporting entity,

(g) provide for the serving of a notice to a domestic constituent entity that there has been a systemic failure by the state of tax residence of the ultimate parent entity,

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

(i) make provision as to how information contained in a country-by-country report or an equivalent country-by-country report is to be used,

(j) make provision for preserving the confidentiality of the information contained in a country-by-country report or an equivalent country- by-country report,

(k) require a domestic constituent entity of an MNE group to request from the ultimate parent entity of that MNE group all the information required to complete a country-by-country report for the MNE group and, where the ultimate parent entity refuses to so provide all of the required information, require that domestic constituent entity to notify the Revenue Commissioners of that refusal within such period and in such manner as may be specified, and

(l) 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.”,

(d) in subsection (7) —

(i) in paragraph (a) by inserting “or an equivalent country-by-country report” after “country-by-country report”, and

(ii) in paragraph (b) by substituting “incorrect country-by-country report or equivalent country-by-country report, or an incomplete country-by-country report,” for “incorrect or incomplete country-by-country report”,

(e) in subsection (8) —

(i) in paragraph (a) by inserting “or an equivalent country-by-country report” after “country-by-country report”,

(ii) in paragraph (b)(ii) by inserting “or equivalent country-by-country report, as the case may be,” after “country-by-country report”, and

(iii) in paragraph (c)(ii) by inserting “or an equivalent country-by-country report” after “country-by-country report”,

and

(f) in subsection (10) by inserting “, in relation to a state other than a Member State,” after “provided that”.

(2) This section applies as respects accounting periods ending on or after the date of the passing of this Act.