Article 3.2.3 of the OECD Model Rules applies an arms-length requirement for transactions between constituent entities in different jurisdictions. This should generally apply in any case due to transfer pricing policies under domestic tax laws.
Although these transactions may be eliminated in the consolidated financial accounts, given the Pillar Two GloBE income or loss is based on the entity’s financial accounts they would need to be considered.
If the financial accounts agree to an arms-length basis no adjustment would need to be made unless for tax purposes a different value is used to apply the arms-length basis.
Note that this only applies to the value of intra-group transactions, not the timing of intra-group transactions. Therefore, no adjustment is required to adjust the timing of an item in the financial accounts to the timing under domestic tax law.
The arms-length basis doesn’t generally apply to transactions between group entities in the same jurisdiction, as the jurisdictional blending rules will generally eliminate them anyway. For more information on jurisdictional blending, see ETR calculation and top-up tax.
There are two exceptions to this:
1. a transfer of an asset between group entities in the same jurisdiction that gives rise to a loss that is included in the Pillar Two GloBE income or loss. In this case the arms-length basis needs to be applied otherwise an MNE could artificially manufacture losses.
2. Transactions between a minority-owned constituent entity or investment entity and other constituent entities aren’t subject to the standard jurisdictional blending and their ETR is calculated on a standalone basis. As such the transactions wouldn’t be eliminated in the jurisdictional blending calculation. Therefore, an arms-length requirement applies to these transactions. For more information, see minority-owned entities.
MNECo1 is located in Country A, which has a corporate income tax rate of 20%.
MNECo2 is located in Country B, which has a 0% rate of corporate income tax.
MNECo1 and MNECo2 are both wholly owned by UPE, and this is an MNE group within the scope of Pillar Two.
MNECo2 provided group marketing services to MNECo1. The financial accounts of both MNECo1 and MNECo2 reflect expenses and income of 5,000,000 euros.
However, for tax purposes, MNECo1 deducts 7,500,000 euros.
In this case, 2,500,000 euros is effectively not subject to tax in Country A and is not subject to top-up tax in Country B.
As such, to apply the arms-length requirement MNECo1 is required to add back 2,500,000 euros of its expense for the Pillar Two GloBE income calculation, and MNECo2 is required to reflect additional income of 2,500,000 euros in its Pillar Two GloBE income calculation.
Adjustments can also apply when there is a unilateral transfer pricing adjustment.
For instance, if in the above example MNECo1 had deducted an expense of 3,000,000 euros for tax purposes as a result of a unilateral transfer pricing adjustment, this would increase taxable income subject to corporate income tax by 2,000,000 euros in MNECo1, but that 2,000,000 of income is also subject to top-up tax in MNECo2.
Therefore, MNECo1 is required to reduce its expense in the calculation of Pillar Two GloBE income by 2,000,000 euros and MNECo2 is required to reduce its Pillar Two GloBE income by 2,000,000 euros.
Note that if the result of an adjustment to the arms-length basis would result in double taxation or non-taxation, then no adjustment is made.
For instance, if in the example above MNEco2 reflected income of 4,000,000 euros for tax purposes and the corporate income tax rate was 10%, no adjustment would be required.
Although the deduction in MNECo1 is 5,000,000 euros, this is included in Pillar Two GloBE income and is subject to top-up tax in MNECo2. Therefore, no adjustment is permitted.
On October 5, 2025, Israel published a consultation on a draft law for a domestic minimum tax (intended to be a Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax or ‘QDMTT’) from January 1, 2026.
On October 3, 2025, Turkey published the Draft Communique on the Minimum Tax Law, and the Draft GIR, for consultation. Whilst Turkey has enacted its Minimum Tax Law, a lot of the detailed application of the GloBE rules was left to a further Regulation. This Communique therefore provides for the detailed rules for the implementation of the GloBE rules in Turkey.
On September 18, 2025, Croatia opened a consultation on a Draft Bill to amend its Minimum Tax Act. The amendments are primarily to amend the QDMTT accounting standard so that the Croatian QDMTT qualifies for the QDMTT Safe Harbour and to provide for the notification deadline for appointing a designated filing entity.
On September 26, 2025, Hong Kong updated its Pillar 2 guidance to include information on its Pillar 2 Portal, applications for Group Codes and mandatory e-filing of profit tax returns for Pillar 2 groups.
On September 29, 2025, the Federal Ministry of Finance opened a consultation on a Draft Regulation for the implementation of the Minimum Tax Act. This provides for compliance rules for the exchange of the GIR and simplified reporting.
We keep track of all domestic Pillar Two forms issued to date, including links to domestic forms and notices for each relevant jurisdiction.
On September 16, 2025, The Netherlands Cabinet issued a Draft Bill for the Second Amendment to the Minimum Tax Act to implement the December 2023, June 2024 and January 2025 OECD Administrative Guidance (as well as the EU DAC 9 proposals).
Japan has launched its Multinational Enterprise Information Reporting Portal for filing Pillar 2 returns.
On 6 September 2025, Nigeria’s Tax Act 2025 was published in the Official Gazette. This includes a DMTT (without any of the detailed GloBE adjustments yet applying).
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