Hong Kong Pillar Two Filing Guide
March 28, 2026
A practical guide to Hong Kong’s Registration, top-up tax notification, GIR / top-up tax return architecture, and current Hong Kong-specific data-format rules
This is a new Safe Harbour included in the January 2026 OECD Side-by-Side Tax Package (see: Tax Challenges Arising from the Digitalisation of the Economy – Global Anti-Base Erosion Model Rules (Pillar Two), Side-by-Side Package).
Side-by-Side (SbS) Safe Harbour
The SbS Safe Harbour excludes an MNE group from the IIR and UTPR (not QDMTT) where its UPE is located in a qualifying SbS jurisdiction. A qualifying SbS jurisdiction is a jurisdiction that has an eligible domestic tax regime and an eligible worldwide tax regime (generally required to be in place before January 1, 2026) as well as providing a FTC for QDMTTs.
Various conditions are required to be met for a tax system to qualify as an eligible domestic tax system or an eligible worldwide tax regime (eg for an eligible domestic system its statutory nominal CIT rate is at least 20%), however in both cases there must not be a material risk that the GloBE ETR would be below 15%.
Whether a jurisdiction qualifies as a qualifying SbS regime will be determined by the OECD and the jurisdiction will be included in the Central Record (similar to how DMTTs that qualify as QDMTTs etc are). To date only the USA is recognised by the OECD as a qualifying SbS regime.
The SbS Safe Harbour will apply for Fiscal Years from January 1, 2026.
UPE Safe Harbour
The UPE Safe Harbour is similar to the SbS Safe Harbour but only applies to exclude an MNE group from the UTPR on profits located in the UPE jurisdiction. However to qualify a jurisdiction only needs to have an eligible domestic tax regime (not an eligible worldwide tax regime as required for the SbS Safe Harbour).
As with the SbS Safe Harbour, Qualified UPE Regimes will be listed in the OECD Central Record and this Safe Harbour will apply from January 1, 2026.
A practical guide to Hong Kong’s Registration, top-up tax notification, GIR / top-up tax return architecture, and current Hong Kong-specific data-format rules
A practical guide to Germany’s Registration, group head notification and GloBE Information Return (GIR) filing through the BZSt framework
Australia issued the Taxation (Multinational—Global and Domestic Minimum Tax) (Qualified GloBE Taxes) Amendment (Measures No. 1) Determination 2026, on March 20, 2026. This updates Australia’s domestic lists of foreign Qualified IIRs, foreign Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Taxes, and jurisdictions with QDMTT Safe Harbour status
On March 24, 2026, Finland gazetted a law amending its Minimum Tax Act to provide for aspects of the January 2026 OECD Side By Side Tax Package and the June 2024 and January 2025 OECD Administrative Guidance.
On March 24, 2026, Belgium issued an updated draft QDMTT Form and XSD Schema.
A practical guide to Luxembourg’s top-up tax return on MyGuichet.lu, including what the local XML does, which fields drive the filing logic, and where groups usually need extra controls.
On February 27, 2026, South Korea issued an amendment to its international tax adjustment decree to provide for detailed provisions for the application of its QDMTT.
In this article we look at how Japan handles the Pillar Two GloBE Information Return through the e-Tax Multinational Enterprise Information Reporting Corner, what fields Japan localises in the GIR XML and CSV package, and how that sits alongside the Japanese top-up tax return.
View our downloadable checklist for Japan’s Pillar Two filing process.
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