Speed dating in the new tax era: the BEPS Convention kicks off

Australia, along with 68 other countries or territories, recently signed the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the BEPS Convention). The BEPS Convention implements action 15 of the BEPS project which proposed a multilateral instrument that would operate automatically to amend and update the bilateral tax treaty network currently in existence to bring certain key provisions of treaties into line with the BEPS agenda. The BEPS Convention may potentially apply to more than 2,000 bilateral tax treaties between countries worldwide. This article introduces the key elements of the BEPS Convention and Australia's position in signing it. The article sets out the history and context of the BEPS project, outlines the goals, framework and complicated implementation process of the BEPS Convention, and discusses each key element of the BEPS Convention and the Australian Treasury position in respect to it.