16 October 2023

Cyprus tax authorities issue clarification note regarding Bilateral Agreement with the United States

  • The bilateral Competent Authority Agreement for the exchange of Country-by-Country reports between Cyprus and the US, which is still under negotiation, is expected to be effective for reporting financial years (RFYs) beginning on or after 1 January 2023.
  • A secondary filing mechanism for a Cypriot Constituent Entity (CE) of a multinational enterprise group with a US tax resident Ultimate Parent Entity applies for RFYs beginning during calendar year 2022.
  • Cypriot CEs that have already filed notifications in Cyprus for RFYs that began during 2022 must revise those notifications by the end of 2023 to avoid penalties.

Executive summary

The Cypriot Tax Department has publicly announced that the bilateral Competent Authority Agreement (CAA) for the exchange of Country-by-Country (CbC) reports between Cyprus and the United States (US), which is still under negotiation, is expected to be effective for Reporting Fiscal Years (RFYs) starting on or after 1 January 2023.

Detailed discussion

As a consequence of the announcement, the secondary filing mechanism for a Cypriot Constituent Entity (CE) of a multinational enterprise group with a US tax resident Ultimate Parent Entity (UPE) is triggered for RFYs starting on or after 1 January 2022, but before 1 January 2023 (i.e., during calendar year 2022).

Accordingly, a Cypriot CE whose UPE is a tax resident in the US, must file the CbC report locally in Cyprus for its RFY ending on 31 December 2022, even if a CbC report has or will be submitted in the US.

The Cypriot Tax Department has further noted that if Cypriot CEs have already filed notifications in Cyprus for RFYs starting on or after 1 January 2022 and before 1 January 2023, the notifications must be revised accordingly if they are affected by the announcement. If these notifications are revised before 31 December 2023, no penalties will be imposed.

———————————————

For additional information with respect to this Alert, please contact the following:

EY Cyprus Advisory Services Limited, Transfer Pricing Services, Cyprus

Published by NTD's Tax Technical Knowledge Services group; Carolyn Wright, legal editor

Document ID: 2023-1726