Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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369. To ask the Minister for Finance the Government's position on Action 15 of the BEPS action plan, developing a multilateral instrument to modify bilateral tax treaties; when he anticipates the Government will make a final decision on the instrument; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26416/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The OECD BEPS reports made a number of recommendations for how tax treaties can be updated to ensure that they do not facilitate double non-taxation.  The Multilateral Instrument is designed to give countries a way to update many or all of their treaties in one go without the need for bilateral renegotiations.

Ireland is actively involved in this work at the OECD which is progressing very well.  It is expected that early next year countries, including Ireland, will be invited to sign up to the Multilateral Instrument.  The Multilateral Instrument is an important part of the implementation of the BEPS recommendations. 

Once the Instrument is signed and ratified by countries it will update relevant tax treaties to ensure they are compliant with the new BEPS standards.