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Cyprus Decree No. 272/2026: incorporation of further OECD Pillar Two guidance and safe harbour dates

On June 26, 2026, Cyprus issued Decree No. 272/2026 which lists additional OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework materials issued after the enactment of the Cyprus Pillar Two law in December 2024, including the January 2025 Administrative Guidance, the January 2025 GloBE Information Return, the 2025 Consolidated Commentary, the 2025 Examples, and the January 2026 Side-by-Side package.

Legislative background

Law 151(I)/2024 is Cyprus’s domestic implementation of the EU Pillar Two Directive, Council Directive (EU) 2022/2523.

The Cyprus law adopts an OECD-guidance-based interpretive model. Article 2 defines ‘OECD Guidelines’ by listing the core OECD Pillar Two materials already published at the time the law was enacted, including the 2022 Commentary, 2022 Examples, the 2022 Safe Harbours and Penalty Relief document, the 2023 Administrative Guidance, the 2023 GIR, the 2023 Consolidated Commentary, and the June 2024 Administrative Guidance. The definition also includes later OECD documents, provided they are specified by decree of the Minister under Article 60.

Article 59 then states Cyprus is to use the OECD Guidelines as a source of examples or interpretation, to the extent this is not inconsistent with the EU Directive or the Cyprus law.

Article 60 allows the Minister of Finance to issue decrees, published in the Official Gazette, specifying the procedural and technical manner of applying the law and identifying additional later OECD documents for Pillar Two purposes.

Decree No. 272/2026 

Decree No. 272/2026 lists the following OECD materials:

OECD material added by the decreePractical significance
Administrative Guidance on Article 9.1 of the GloBE Model Rules, published 15 January 2025Relevant to transition-year and pre-regime attribute issues.
Administrative Guidance on Articles 8.1.4 and 8.1.5, published 15 January 2025Relevant to information return mechanics and filing architecture.
GloBE Information Return, published 15 January 2025Updates the GIR framework to the January 2025 version.
2025 Consolidated Commentary, published 9 May 2025Refreshes interpretive guidance incorporated into the Cyprus framework.
2025 GloBE Examples, published 9 May 2025Updates worked examples relevant to technical interpretation.
OECD Side-by-Side package, published 5 January 2026Introduces the new safe harbour architecture and related entry-into-force dates.

At EU level, the safe harbours agreed on 5 January 2026 were also recorded in the Official Journal of the European Union, which states that all Member States consented to the Simplified ETR Safe Harbour, the extension of the Transitional CbCR Safe Harbour, the Substance-based Tax Incentive Safe Harbour, and the Side-by-Side System.

Safe harbour commencement dates 

The key Cyprus dates from Decree No. 272/2026 are as follows:

Safe harbourCyprus decree commencement date
Simplified ETR Safe HarbourFiscal years starting on or after 31 December 2025
Extension of Transitional CbCR Safe HarbourFiscal years starting on or before 31 December 2027, excluding fiscal years ending after 30 June 2029
Substance-based Tax Incentive Safe HarbourFiscal years starting on or after 1 January 2026
Side-by-Side Safe HarbourFiscal years starting on or after 1 January 2026, or a later year as listed in the OECD Central Record
UPE Safe HarbourFiscal years starting on or after 1 January 2026

The Simplified ETR Safe Harbour date is especially worthwhile noting. The OECD default rule requires implementing jurisdictions to make the safe harbour available for fiscal years beginning on or after 31 December 2026, but permits earlier application for fiscal years beginning on or after 31 December 2025 where the relevant coordination conditions are met. Cyprus appears to have taken up that early-application option in the decree.

Simplified ETR Safe Harbour
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