Administrative mutual assistance

European Union

• Council Directive nr. 2016/881 of 25 May 2016, Council Directive nr. 2015/2376 of 8 December 2015 and Council Directive nr. 2014/107/EU of 9 December 2014 regarding mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation (all amending Council Directive nr. 2011/16/EU, of 15 February 2011).
• Council Directive nr. 2016/1164, of 12 July 2016, laying down rules against tax avoidance practices that directly affect the functioning of the internal market.
• Council Directive nr. 2010/24/EU, of 16 March 2010, on mutual assistance for the recovery of claims related to certain taxes, duties and other measures (revokes Council Directive nr. 2008/55/EC, of 26 May 2008, with effect from 1 January 2012).

Protocols on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters

The following Protocols on mutual administrative assistance in tax matters have been signed by the Portuguese Republic.

• Brazil
• Cape Verde
• Mozambique

The complete wording of the Protocols is available at the Portuguese Tax Authorities’ website:

Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement foreseen in the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project

On 27 January 2016, Portugal concluded a tax cooperation agreement that allows the automatic exchange of information by jurisdiction regarding Country-by-Country Report (CbC Report). The CbC Report obligation was primarily laid down in the OECD/G20 BEPS Action Plan and was transposed to European and Portuguese jurisdictions (vide article 121-A of CIT Code).

The Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) enables the implementation of the new transfer pricing reporting standard developed under the Action 13 of BEPS Action Plan, which was further developed and strengthened since the publication of its draft report in 2014.

This agreement involves nowadays 68 signing countries and promotes the exchange of information between their Tax Authorities related with information on revenues, profit before tax, stated capital, number of employees, value of fixed tangible assets, among others, of CbC Reporting multinational groups ensuring the confidentiality of all information exchanged.

It is important to note that it is already in force in Portuguese jurisdiction the CbC Report’s information exchange mechanism with 54 jurisdictions ⁽¹⁾ and it is foreseen that the first information exchange occurs during 2018.

^{(1) Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Isle of Mann, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Korea, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States and Uruguay. It is possible to see here all the exchange of information relationships in regard to CbC Report that are already active in Portugal.}