The OECD has announced the release of the stage 2 peer review reports on dispute resolution under BEPS Action 14 for Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and Turkey.

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Making tax dispute resolution more effective: New peer review assessments for Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Turkey

25/05/2021 - Under BEPS Action 14, jurisdictions have committed to implement a minimum standard to improve the resolution of tax-related disputes between jurisdictions. Despite the significant disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the necessity to hold all meetings virtually, work has continued with the release today of the stage 2 peer review monitoring reports for Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Turkey.

These reports evaluate the progress made by these eight jurisdictions in implementing any recommendations resulting from their stage 1 peer review. They take into account any developments in the period 1 May 2018 – 31 October 2019 and build on the MAP statistics for 2016-2018.

The results from the peer review and peer monitoring process demonstrate positive changes across all eight jurisdictions, although not all show the same level of progress. Highlights include:

• The Multilateral Instrument was signed by all eight jurisdictions and has already been ratified by three of them, which brings a substantial number of their treaties in line with the standard. In addition, there are bilateral negotiations either ongoing or concluded.
• Hungary, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Turkey now have a documented bilateral notification/consultation process that they apply in cases where an objection is considered as being not justified by their competent authority.
• Estonia, Hungary, the Slovak Republic and Turkey have added more personnel to the competent authority function and/or have made organisational improvements with a view to handle MAP cases in a more timely, effective and efficient manner.
• Estonia, Iceland, Romania, Slovenia and Turkey closed MAP cases within the pursued average time of 24 months. Furthermore, Greece slightly decreased the amount of time needed to close MAP cases.
• Greece and Slovenia introduced legislative changes to ensure that MAP agreements can always be implemented notwithstanding domestic time limits, which was already the case for Estonia, Hungary and the Slovak Republic.
• All jurisdictions have issued or updated their MAP guidance.

The OECD will continue to publish stage 2 peer review reports in batches in accordance with the Action 14 peer review assessment schedule. In total, 82 stage 1 peer review reports and 53 stage 1 and stage 2 peer monitoring reports have now been finalised and published, with the sixth batch of stage 2 reports to be released in a few months.

More on the BEPS Action 14 peer review and monitoring process