Germany publishes Pillar Two recognition list in amended Minimum Tax Regulation

Germany has published a regulation that gives domestic legal effect to a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction list of recognised Pillar Two rules. The Regulation amending the Minimum Tax Reporting Regulation was made on 7 August 2026, published in the Federal Law Gazette on 17 August 2026 as BGBl. 2026 I No. 235, and entered into force on 18 August 2026. 

The amendment adds an annex identifying the jurisdictions that Germany recognises as having a qualified domestic minimum top-up tax (QDMTT), income inclusion rule (IIR), undertaxed profits rule (UTPR), or QDMTT Safe Harbour, and the first fiscal years for which each status applies.

The annex does not reproduce the OECD Central Record exactly. The German and OECD IIR lists align, but the OECD’s current QDMTT and QDMTT Safe Harbour tables contain four jurisdictions—Bahamas, Kenya, Kuwait and Oman—that do not appear in the German annex. 

Legislative Background

Section 99(5) MinStG authorises the Federal Ministry of Finance, with the Bundesrat’s consent, to determine by regulation the jurisdictions that have introduced:

-a recognised national top-up tax;

-a recognised primary top-up tax rule;

-a recognised secondary top-up tax rule; and

-a national top-up tax satisfying the conditions for the safe harbour in section 81(1) MinStG.

These are the German statutory equivalents of a QDMTT, IIR, UTPR and the QDMTT Safe Harbour. 

The new section 8 MinStDV activates this by referring to the annex. Each rule is recognised only for fiscal years beginning on or after the date shown in the relevant column. The dates are therefore first-covered-fiscal-year dates.

The official consolidated annex contains 49 jurisdictions. 46 are listed for a QDMTT, 44 for an IIR and 21 for a UTPR. All 46 jurisdictions listed for a QDMTT are also shown in the QDMTT Safe Harbour column.

Qualifying Status

The classifications are rule-specific. Inclusion in one column does not imply recognition in the others.

For example, Jersey, Korea and New Zealand are listed for an IIR but not for a QDMTT or UTPR. Bahrain, Barbados, Brazil, Slovakia and the United Arab Emirates are listed for a QDMTT and the QDMTT Safe Harbour, but not for an IIR or UTPR. UTPR recognition is confined in the published annex to 21 jurisdictions: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

The dates also differ both between jurisdictions and between rules within the same jurisdiction. For example, for Japan: its IIR is recognised for fiscal years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, whereas its QDMTT and QDMTT Safe Harbour are recognised only for fiscal years beginning on or after 1 April 2026. Gibraltar and Switzerland similarly have QDMTT recognition from 1 January 2024 but IIR recognition from 1 January 2025.

The QDMTT Safe Harbour