Harmful Tax Practices – 2022 Peer Review Reports on the Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings

Qatar

Qatar has met all aspects of the terms of reference (OECD, 2021[1]) (ToR) for the calendar year 2022 (year in review).

Qatar can legally issue five types of rulings within the scope of the transparency framework.

In practice, Qatar issued rulings within the scope of the transparency framework as follows:

 

Type of ruling	Number of rulings
Past rulings	0
Future rulings in the period 1 April 2018 – 31 December 2018	0
Future rulings in the calendar year 2019	1
Future rulings in the calendar year 2020	1
Future rulings in the calendar year 2021	5
Future rulings in the year in review	4

Peer input was received from three jurisdictions in respect of the exchanges of information on rulings received from Qatar. The input the jurisdictions was positive, noting that overall information was complete, in a correct format and received in a timely manner.

Information gathering process (ToR I.A)

969. Qatar can legally issue the following five types of rulings within the scope of the transparency framework: (i) preferential regimes;1 (ii) cross-border unilateral APAs and any other cross-border unilateral tax rulings (such as an advance tax ruling) covering transfer pricing or the application of transfer pricing principles; (iii) rulings providing for unilateral downward adjustments; (iv) permanent establishment rulings; and (v) related party conduit rulings.

970. For Qatar, past rulings are any tax rulings issued prior to 1 September 2018. Future rulings are any tax rulings within scope that are issued on or after 1 September 2018.

971. In the prior year’s peer review report, it was determined that Qatar’s undertakings to identify future rulings and all potential exchange jurisdictions were sufficient to meet the minimum standard. In addition, it was determined that Qatar’s review and supervision mechanism was sufficient to meet the minimum standard. Qatar’s implementation in this regard remains unchanged, and therefore continues to meet the minimum standard.

972. Qatar has met all of the ToR for the information gathering process and no recommendations are made.

Exchange of information (ToR II.B)

973. Qatar has the necessary domestic legal basis to exchange information spontaneously. Qatar notes that there are no legal or practical impediments that prevent the spontaneous exchange of information on rulings as contemplated in the Action 5 minimum standard.

974. Qatar has international agreements permitting spontaneous exchange of information, including: (i) the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters: Amended by the 2010 Protocol (OECD/Council of Europe, 2011[2]) (“the Convention”) and (ii) bilateral agreements in force with 78 jurisdictions.2

975. For the year in review, the timeliness of exchanges is as follows:

 

Future rulings within the scope of the transparency framework	Number of exchanges transmitted within three months of the information becoming available to the competent authority or immediately after legal impediments have been lifted	Delayed exchanges
		Number of exchanges transmitted later than three months of the information on rulings becoming available to the competent authority	Reasons for the delays	Any other comments
	25	0	N/A	N/A

 

Follow-up requests received for exchange of the ruling	Number	Average time to provide response	Number of requests not answered
	0

976. In the prior years’ peer review reports, it was determined that Qatar’s process for the completion and exchange of templates were sufficient to meet the minimum standard. With respect to past rulings, no action was required. Qatar’s implementation in this regard remains unchanged and therefore continues to meet the minimum standard.

977. Qatar has the necessary legal basis for spontaneous exchange of information, a process for completing the templates in a timely way and has completed all exchanges. Qatar has met all of the ToR for the exchange of information process and no recommendations are made.

Statistics (ToR IV.D)

978. The statistics for the year in review are as follows:

 

Category of ruling	Number of exchanges	Jurisdictions exchanged with
Ruling related to a preferential regime	De minimis rule applies	N/A
Cross-border unilateral APAs and any other cross-border unilateral tax rulings (such as an advance tax ruling) covering transfer pricing or the application of transfer pricing principles	De minimis rule applies	N/A
Cross-border rulings providing for a unilateral downward adjustment to the taxpayer’s taxable profits that is not directly reflected in the taxpayer’s financial / commercial accounts	0	N/A
Permanent establishment rulings	0	N/A
Related party conduit rulings	0	N/A
De minimis rule	25
IP regimes: total exchanges on taxpayers benefitting from the third category of IP assets, new entrants benefitting from grandfathered IP regimes; and taxpayers making use of the option to treat the nexus ratio as a rebuttable presumption	0	N/A
Total	25

Matters related to intellectual property regimes (ToR I.A.1.3)

979. In the prior year’s peer review report, it was determined that Qatar’s information gathering and exchange of information processes for matters related to intellectual property regimes3 were sufficient to meet the minimum standard. Qatar’s implementation in this regard remains unchanged and therefore continues to meet the minimum standard.

Summary of recommendations on implementation of the transparency framework

 

Aspect of implementation of the transparency framework that should be improved	Recommendation for improvement
	No recommendations are made.

References

[1] OECD (2021), BEPS Action 5 on Harmful Tax Practices - Terms of Reference and Methodology for the Conduct of the Peer Reviews of the Action 5 Transparency Framework, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://www.oecd.org/tax/beps/beps-action-5-harmful-tax-practices-peer-review-transparency-framework.pdf.

[3] OECD (2015), Countering Harmful Tax Practices More Effectively, Taking into Account Transparency and Substance, Action 5 - 2015 Final Report, OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264241190-en.

[2] OECD/Council of Europe (2011), The Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters: Amended by the 2010 Protocol, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264115606-en.