DAC3/BEPS Action 5

Overview

Council Directive 2011/16/EU is often referred to as the DAC. The DAC provides for the Automatic Exchange Of Information (AEOI) between the tax administrations of European Union (EU) Member States.

In 2015, the DAC was amended by Council Directive (EU) 2015/2376 (DAC3). DAC3 extends the scope of the existing provisions in relation to AEOI and administrative cooperation between EU Member States.

DAC3 obliges tax administrations to automatically exchange information on advance cross-border tax rulings and advance pricing agreements with other Member States. Revenue also exchanges certain tax rulings under Action 5 of the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project.

What are tax rulings?

In an Irish context, rulings are opinions provided by Revenue on the application of tax law to particular transactions, events or activities. Revenue exchanges such opinions with other tax administrations under the scope of DAC3 and the OECD framework. Revenue also receives rulings from partner jurisdictions where an Irish company or other entity is involved.

Irish legislation and guidance on the Exchange of Opinions

The legislation that implements the exchange of opinions in Ireland is contained in:

• Section 891GA of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (as inserted by Section 25 of Finance Act 2016)
• and
• S.I. No. 619 Regulations 2016.

For further information on exchange of opinions with other jurisdictions, please see Tax and Duty Manual Part 35-00-01.

Note

Companies and other entities, refers to the parties in Article 3, paragraph 11(b), (c) and (d) of Council Directive 2011/16/EU.

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