Liechtenstein Government Approves a Draft Law for the Exchange of GIR Information Under the MCAA

General

On March 18, 2025, the government approved a draft bill on the amendment of Liechtenstein’s Global Minimum Tax Act (‘the bill’), (see our unofficial English Translation at: 2025 Draft Amendment Bill_English)

The bill is intended to implement domestically the OECD provisions for the exchange of information in the GloBE Information Return (GIR) under the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Exchange of GloBE Information (GIR MCAA).

The GIR MCAA was published by the OECD on January 15, 2025 and is expected to be signed in the course of 2025 by jurisdictions that have implemented the Pillar Two global minimum tax rules. The first exchange of GloBE information under the GIR MCAA is scheduled to take place in 2026. The bill provides additions and amendments to the Global Minimum Tax Act to provide for:

-Obligations for reporting constituent entities, in particular the obligation to register and provide information;

-Controls for reporting constituent entities;

-Arrangements for the exchange of the GIR with partner states;

-Confidentiality and use of the GloBE information; and

-Procedural provisions relating to GloBE information.

Key amendments

Articles 3(1)(i) to (m)

New Articles 3(1)(i) to (m) provide specific definitions for ‘GloBE Information Return’, ‘GloBE information’, ‘Partner State’ and ‘Reporting Entity’.

The GloBE information must be submitted according to the distribution approach provided in the GIR MCAA.

A general section must be sent to the implementing countries in which the ultimate parent entity or constituent entities of the group are located. States that have only adopted a QDMTT and neither an IIR or a UTPR will not receive the summary in Section 1.4 of the GIR.

A jurisdictional section is to be submitted to those states that have taxation rights under the GloBE regulations or under a QDMTT.

Article 4(3)

Article 4(3) of the Global Minimum Tax Act is to be repealed.

It provided that for the Liechtenstein QDMTT, if a threshold lower than 750 million euros was used in the application of the GloBE rules in the jurisdiction of the UPE, it’s domestic constituent entities would also be subject to the Liechtenstein QDMTT.

As no country has so far provided a qualified implementation of the GloBE rules below the 750 million euros threshold there is currently no scope of application for Article 4(3). In addition, the Liechtenstein supplementary tax as a conditional tax liability would not be offset against a foreign supplementary tax on the basis of the OECD/G20 Administrative Guidelines. It is therefore to be deleted.

Article 14a

This provides that constituent entities located in Liechtenstein that submit a GIR are required to register with the tax administration within 15 months after the end of the financial year to which the GIR relates.

Article 14e

This provides that Liechtenstein will transmit the GloBE information to the competent authorities of the partner states in which constituent entities of the multinational group are located, based on the provisions of the GIR MCAA.

The transmission of the GIR information will take place within the time limits set out in the GIR MCAA.

Under Section 3 (1) pf the GIR MCAA, the general transmission deadline is three months after the expiry of the submission deadline for the financial year applicable in the transmitting state. Under Article 6(2) of Liechtenstein’s GloBE Regulation, the GIR must be filed within 15 months of the end of the financial year. Therefore, the deadline for transmission of the GIR information to other states is 18 months after the end of the financial year in question.

For the first transitional year the deadline for transmission of the GIR information is increased to 6 months after the GIR filing deadline (Article 3(2) of the GIR MCAA) and the GIR deadline itself is increased to 18 months after the end of the financial year. As such, the deadline for transmission of the GIR information is 24 months after the end of the relevant financial year.

Article 14e(2) provides that the government will list partner states with which Liechtenstein will exchange GIR information based on the GIR MCAA (contracting states of the GIR MCAA that wish to receive GloBE information are required to make a declaration as to whether they have implemented either an IIR, UTPR tax or a QDMTT).