IEIM300050 - Country-by-Country reporting: The filing obligation

The UK rules use many terms and definitions that are taken from the OECD guidance and that guidance should be checked when completing a CbC report.

A UK UPE must file a CbC report in respect of every period for which it is in scope, see IEIM300030.

A top UK entity of an MNE Group which is resident for tax purposes or which has a permanent establishment in the UK, will have to file a CbC report when:

  • the UPE of the group is resident for tax purposes in a country that does not require it to file a CbC report,
  • the UPE of the group is resident for tax purposes in a country that either has entered into an international agreement which allows for exchange of information (like the Multilateral Convention for Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters or similar), but has not entered into specific arrangements to exchange CbC reports, or
  • HMRC has notified the UK entity that exchange arrangements with the country in which the UPE is tax resident are not operating effectively. See IEIM300160 for details of the jurisdictions with which the UK has CbC report exchange arrangements in place.

Where a UPE is below the CbC reporting threshold in its jurisdiction of tax residence and that jurisdiction has a threshold in a currency other than Euros, it is possible that, due to currency fluctuations, the UPE will be above the UK reporting threshold when the currency is converted into Euros.  Since the UPE is not required to file in its jurisdiction of tax residence but is above the UK threshold, a UK entity of the group would be required to file a local report in the UK under Regulation 3B 2017 CbC Regulations. 

Provided that the jurisdiction of the UPE has implemented a threshold that is a near equivalent of €750m in domestic currency as it was at January 2015, the MNE Group will not be required to file a UK CbCR.    

Example

UPE X is resident in Country A.  Country A has fully adopted CbC reporting and has set a threshold of $850m.  This threshold is a near equivalent of €750m as at January 2015.  UPE X is has revenue in the period of $840m.  As this is below the reporting threshold in Country A there is no obligation on the UPE to file in Country A.

When converted to Euros for the same period, UPE X would be above €750m and therefore a UK entity of the group would be required to file in the UK.  As this obligation only occurs due to currency fluctuation and the UPE falls below the threshold in its jurisdiction, the UK will not require local filing by a UK entity of the MNE group. 

The deadline for filing CbC reports is 12 months after the end of the period to which the CbC report relates.