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.
On August 7, 2026, Germany published a regulation that gives domestic legal effect to a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction list of qualifying Pillar Two jurisdictions.
On August 8, 2026, Mauritius issued its QDMTT regulations to implement its QDMTT.
On 3 August 2026, Korea’s Ministry of Finance and Economy released its 2026 Tax Reform Proposal. Among its international tax measures are proposed amendments intended to implement significant elements of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework’s January 2026 Pillar Two Side-by-Side Package.
Decision No. 12 of 2026 introduces a seven-month registration period, transitional deadlines and a five-year notification regime for UAE entities within the domestic minimum top-up tax framework.
Qatar’s General Tax Authority (GTA) activated its Global and Domestic Minimum Tax registration service through the Dhareeba tax platform on 2 August 2026.
On 30 July 2026, the Portuguese Government published Portaria No. 318/2026/1, approving Model 64 – the Pillar Two Top-up Tax Return – and its accompanying completion instructions. The Ministerial Order entered into force and took effect on 31 July 2026.
Analysis of the domestic implementation of the Pillar Two Global Minimum Tax rules in Monaco for accounting periods beginning on or after December 31, 2026.
Monaco has published draft legislation introducing a Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax (QDMTT) for multinational enterprise groups. The measure is contained in Bill No. 1129 on the minimum taxation of multinational enterprise groups, dated 14 July 2026 and received by Monaco’s Conseil National on 28 July 2026.
On July 23, 2026, Canada has released a proposed targeted amendment to its Global Minimum Tax Act that would broaden the circumstances in which an intra-group financing or investment arrangement must be neutralised when applying the transitional Country-by-Country Reporting (“CbCR”) safe harbour.
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