The Ministry of Finance, MoF, has organised a workshop entitled, "Taking tax treaty work related to BEPS forward," in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD.
The workshop covered a number of key topics including the study of legal and logistical procedures related to designing and implementing tax treaties, BEPS discussions and challenges related to e-commerce, the attribution of profits to permanent establishments, ways to develop the automatic exchange of tax information between countries, and a discussion on the OECD model of tax treaty agreements and amendments, as well as the explanatory memorandum. This workshop is the 8th joint event to be held by MoF and the OECD.
In addition to MoF employees, participants included representatives from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Nigeria, Cameroon, Bermuda, Malta, Romania, Sudan, Kosovo, and Sri Lanka, as well as the Secretariat-General of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf. The workshop was also attended by local entities including the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UAE Central Bank, the finance departments of local governments, UAE Free Zones, Etihad Airways, Emirates, and the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company.
The UAE has established a tax treaty network with various trading partners across the world since 1987, and a total of 78 agreements have been signed so far. This has enabled the MoF to gain legal and logistical expertise in terms of concluding agreements and meeting all related requirements.