Administration

GloBE Registration

The Model GloBE Rules and the EU Minimum Tax Directive do not provide any requirement for taxpayers to register as being in scope of the GloBE Rules or to de-register when they fall out of scope.

However, many jurisdictions will require GloBE registration for administrative purposes.

The approach from the legislation issued to date has been inconsistent, with some including relatively detailed registration provisions and others being silent on the issue. See: GloBE Implementation: Domestic Registration Requirements

GloBE Information Return

Generally, each constituent entity located in a jurisdiction is required to file a GloBE Information Return within 15 months after the last day of the fiscal year.

The return may be filed by either the constituent entity itself or by a designated local entity on its behalf. The filing deadline is extended to 18 months after the last day of the fiscal year for the first fiscal year in which an MNE Group comes within the scope of the GloBE Rules in that jurisdiction.

Section 5 of the December 2023 OECD Administrative Guidance provides that, the due date for filing and notification obligations shall not be before June 30, 2026.

For example, a short 6 month accounting period to June 30, 2024 would have a GIR filing deadline of December 31, 2025 under the standard transitional rule. However, this is extended to June 30, 2026 under the OECD Administrative Guidance.

A constituent entity is not required to file a GloBE Information Return if a GloBE Information Return has been filed by either:

 – the UPE that is located in a jurisdiction that has a qualifying competent authority agreement in effect with the constituent entity’s jurisdiction for the fiscal year; or

 – the designated filing entity located in a jurisdiction that has a qualifying competent authority agreement in effect with the constituent entity’s jurisdiction for the fiscal year.

The GloBE Information Return will be filed in a standard template and will generally include the following:

 – identification of the constituent entities, including their tax identification numbers (if they exist), the jurisdiction in which they are located and their status under the GloBE Rules;

 – information on the overall corporate structure of the MNE group, including the controlling interests in the constituent entities held by other constituent entities;

 – information necessary to compute the ETR for each jurisdiction and the top-up tax of each constituent entity;

 – the allocation to each jurisdiction of the IIR top-up tax and the UTPR top-up tax amount;

 – a record of any GloBE elections made; and

 – other information that is necessary to administer the GloBE Rules.

Penalties for infractions of the GloBE Rules will apply under the domestic law of the implementing jurisdictions.

On December 20, 2022, the OECD published a consultation document on the Pillar Two GloBE Information Return. The consultation ran until February 3, 2023.  For more information, see OECD Consultation on the Pillar Two GloBE Information Return.

On July 17, 2023, the OECD issued the revised GloBE Information Return. See: Key Aspects of the GloBE Information Return Guidance.

On July 10, 2024, the OECD released the draft XML schema for the GloBE Information Return (GIR). This provides a method of structuring the data reporting for the GIR. 

On October 28, 2024, the EU Commission adopted a proposal to amend the Directive on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation (Directive 2011/16/EU – DAC) (DAC 9). The goal is to make it easier for companies to fulfil their filing obligations under the Pillar 2 Directive.

Without the DAC9 proposal, each company that forms part of an MNE will have to file a GIR in the country where it is based.

Under DAC9, MNEs would only have to file one top-up tax information return, at central level, for the entire group. This reflects the OECD guidance and Art 44 of the EU Minimum Tax Directive which requires filing by the UPE or designated filing entity (subject to certain requirements). This information is then automatically exchanged with other jurisdictions depending on the scope of tax under Pillar 2 in that jurisdiction. 

The DAC 9 proposal also transposes the GIR into EU law by making it the Top-up tax information return envisaged in Article 44 of the Pillar Two Directive.

Once adopted by the EU Council, EU governments will have until 31 December 2025 to put DAC9 into practice.

Safe Harbours

On December 20, 2022, the OECD issued the Safe Harbours and Penalty Relief: Global Anti-Base Erosion Rules (Pillar Two), which includes details of two safe harbours and penalty relief for the Pillar Two GloBE rules
 
 The three published reliefs are the:
 
Note that the first two are temporary, whereas the Simplified Calculations Safe Harbours are permanent.
 
On July 17, 2023, the OECD issued its Second Set of Administrative Guidance. This included a QDMTT Safe Harbour and a Transitional UTPR Safe Harbour.
 
Whilst the safe harbours/harbors represent a significant simplification for MNEs, qualifying for a safe harbour for a jurisdiction does not exempt an MNE Group from complying with group-wide GloBE requirements such as the requirement to prepare and file its GloBE Information Return.