On 19 September 2018, the Cyprus Tax Department issued an announcement regarding Country-by-Country Reporting (CbCR) obligations related to CbCR exchange relationships as follows:
- The Cyprus Tax Department informs all legal entities and their representatives that, constituent Entities of Cyprus Ultimate Parent Entities (UPEs) will not be subject to local filing in their jurisdiction of tax residence, provided the CbC Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) is activated between Cyprus and the other jurisdiction.
CbC Activated Exchange Relationships are available on OECD website on the following link:
http://www.oecd.org/ctp/beps/country-by-country-exchange-relationships.htm
- Regarding constituent Entities in Cyprus with no Cyprus tax resident UPEs, local filing will not be applicable.
- In case the exchange relationship is not activated for the respective fiscal year (e.g. 31 December 2017) by the CbCR reporting deadline (e.g. 31 December 2018), local filing obligation should arise for Cypriot constituent entities.
- Also no exchange information agreement is expected to be signed with the US prior to 31 December 2018, thus local filing obligation should arise in Cyprus for cases where the Group’s CbCR will be submitted in the US.
- In the cases where notifications have been filed in Cyprus by CY Constituent Entities of MNE Groups affected by this announcement, such notifications must be revised in accordance with this announcement. If such notifications are revised by end of December 2018 no penalties will be imposed for 2017.
What is the CbC Reporting requirement for the 2017 Reporting Fiscal Year?
CbC Reporting applies to large multinational enterprise (“MNE”) groups with annual consolidated group revenue of €750 million or more in the preceding fiscal year.
MNE groups exceeding the above threshold are required to file a CbC Report that will provide a breakdown of the amount of revenue, profits, taxes and other indicators of economic activities for each tax jurisdiction in which the MNE group does business.
The obligation to file a CbC report on behalf of the MNE group generally lies with the Ultimate Parent Entity (“UPE”) of the MNE group, unless a Surrogate Parent Entity (“SPE”) has been appointed by the group where appropriate. The CbC report must be filed with the CTD if the UPE or SPE is resident in Cyprus.
Furthermore, where an MNE Group has a Cypriot Constituent Entity (“CE”), which is not the UPE or SPE, such CE may under certain circumstances still be required to file a CbC Report in Cyprus under the secondary filing mechanism. This should be considered on a case by case basis, as it will depend on a number of factors. These factors include the jurisdiction in which the UPE is resident, and whether a CbC exchange relationship, between Cyprus and the jurisdiction where the CbC Report will be filed on behalf of the group (by the UPE or any SPE), has been activated by the deadline for filing the CbC Report.
What is the mechanism to submit the CbC report and notifications?
CbC reports and notifications are filed through the Ariadni Government portal. Each CE that makes a filing needs to be registered with this portal for CbC purposes.
What are the penalties for non-compliance?
A penalty of up to €10.000 and €5.000, in respect of each CbC Report and notification respectively, may be imposed on a Cypriot CE for late filing. Under certain circumstances each penalty may increase up to €20.000.