Belarus: tax treaties
Tax treaties and related documents between the UK and Belarus.
Documents
Details
February 2025: UK suspends Double Taxation Convention
Following Belarus’ unlawful action to suspend material provisions of the 2017 UK-Belarus Double Taxation Convention in March 2024, the UK continued to honour its treaty obligations. The UK requested that Belarus come back into compliance with its international legal obligations. As it has not done so, the UK has now notified Belarus of its intention to suspend the Convention.
The UK will revoke the legislation which gives effect to the Convention in UK law. The Convention will cease to have effect from:
- 6 April 2025 for Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax
- 1 April 2025 for Corporation Tax and all other taxes
Domestic tax law will be applicable without reference to the treaty from that time. The terms of the treaty will continue to apply for earlier periods.
Should Belarus come back into compliance with its treaty obligations it will be possible to enact new legislation to give effect to the treaty once again in UK law.
March 2024: Belarus suspends Double Taxation Agreements
Belarus has suspended provisions of many of its Double Taxation Agreements by Resolution of the Council of Ministers dated 7 March 2024. This action affects the Double Taxation Agreements of 27 countries including the 2017 UK-Belarus Double Taxation Convention, in respect of which the UK received notification from Belarus on 22 March 2024.
The Council Resolution suspends the provisions relating to dividends, interest and capital gains with effect from 1 June 2024. The same Resolution also introduces discriminatory taxes on dividends and other income in respect of businesses located in one of the 27 countries with effect from 1 April 2024. This means that Belarus is not honouring agreed limits on what it may tax at source and has placed other restrictions on the conduct of business by non-Belarusians in Belarus.
The UK-Belarus Convention does not permit this unilateral action. The government views this action with utmost seriousness.
The UK has asked Belarus to reverse its action.
The UK considers the treaty to remain in force and is continuing to comply with its terms. The government is considering next steps and will provide more information in due course.
2017 UK-Belarus Double Taxation Convention
The 2017 UK-Belarus Double Taxation Convention was signed on 26 September 2017 and entered into force on 27 July 2018.
It takes effect in the UK for:
- taxes withheld at source, for amounts paid or credited on or after 1 October 2018
- Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax, for any year of assessment beginning on or after 6 April 2019
- Corporation Tax, for any financial year beginning on or after 1 April 2019
It takes effect in Belarus for:
- taxes withheld at source, on income derived or credited on or after 1 October 2018
- other taxes, for taxes chargeable for any tax period beginning on or after 1 January 2019
The Convention between the UK and the USSR, signed on 31 July 1985, ceases to apply to Belarus from those dates.
Updates to this page
Published 23 December 2007Last updated 4 February 2025 + show all updates
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UK suspends 2017 Belarus-UK Double Taxation Convention.
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Information has been added to the details section as Belarus has suspended Double Taxation Agreements.
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The 2017 Belarus-UK Double Taxation Convention – in force has been added.
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The 2017 Belarus-UK Double Taxation Convention has been added.
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First published.