Article 10 of the OECD Model Rules defines an entity as either:
– a legal person (except an individual); or
– any arrangement that prepares separate financial accounts.
Note that the First Set of OECD Administrative Guidance also excludes government agencies (both central and local government) that carry out government functions.
The first limb above would generally catch foundations, whilst the second would catch trusts.
This means that trusts and foundations are squarely within the Pillar Two rules and could be a low-taxed entity, an intermediate entity/partially owned parent entity or even an ultimate parent entity (UPE).
Under Article 1.4.1 of the OECD Model Rules, a UPE for the Pillar Two rules is:
Whether a trust is a UPE is an important consideration as (1) in many cases the UPE is required to apply the income inclusion rule to account for top-up tax and (2) the definition of an MNE group hinges on the relationship between the group companies and the UPE.
For instance, take this scenario:
Determining if the trust was the UPE could result in all companies then potentially being within the scope of the Pillar Two rules (subject to any specific exclusions etc). Aside from the application of Pillar Two to the group, the trust could then be liable to account for top-up tax.
This in itself could create issues.
The definition of a group in the Pillar Two rules relies on accounting principles so that there is a group if there is a requirement to prepare consolidated financial statements.
Whilst a trust or foundation may not usually have to prepare consolidated financial statements under an accounting standard, the Pillar Two rules go further.
Article 10 of the OECD Model Rules states that if no consolidated financial statements are prepared a deeming provision applies so that the entity must prepare hypothetical consolidated financial statements as if it was required to prepare them in accordance with an Authorised Financial Accounting Standard that is either an Acceptable Financial Accounting Standard or another financial accounting standard.
As such, a trust or foundation would need to determine if it would be required to prepare accounting standards under an accounting standard.
This would again depend on accounting principles.
Under IFRS for instance, there is a requirement to consolidate if the trust or foundation possesses power over the parent entities, has exposure to variable returns from its involvement with them and has the ability to use its power over them to affect its returns.
The UTPR exclusion for MNEs in their initial phase of international activity does not need to be included in a QDMTT, however, it can be included. In this article we look at the different jurisdictional approaches.
On January 15, 2025, the OECD issued Administrative Guidance that includes a list of jurisdictions that have transitional qualified status for the purposes of the income inclusion rule and domestic minimum tax (including the QDMTT Safe Harbour). This was subsequently updated on March 31, 2025.
On April 10, 2025, the Belgium Ministry of Finance issued the QDMTT Return. This is still considered as draft until published in the Official Gazette but is unlikely to now change as this follows a consultation of a previous draft of the QDMTT Return that lasted until November 8, 2024.
Om March 31, 2025, the Law to Partially Amend the Income Tax Act was published in the Official Gazette. This implements the UTPR and QDMTT from April 1, 2026.
On April 3, 2025, the Federal Ministry of Finance issued a letter on the application of Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting for transparent partnerships, including the impact on the Transitional CbCR Safe Harbour for Pillar 2 purposes.
On March 10, 2025 and March 12, 2025, Finland issued explanatory guidance on the application of the Minimum Tax Act, including provisions from the OECD June 2024 Administrative Guidance relating to the DTL recapture.
On April 2, 2025, Spain issued Regulations for the application of the Global Minimum Tax Law. This includes a number of aspects of the OECD Administrative Guidance.
Permanent Establishments (PEs) are subject to a number of specific rules under Pillar Two in order to apply the general provisions to them. Key issues are what is a PE under Pillar Two? where is it located? and how are income and taxes allocated to it?
On March 21, 2025, the UK approved a list of jurisdictions that have qualified status for the purposes of the income inclusion rule and domestic minimum tax (including the QDMTT Safe Harbour).
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