Executive summary

On 11 March 2025, the Finance Ministers of the European Union (EU) Member States reached political agreement for the revision of the Directive on Administrative Cooperation (Council Directive 2011/16/EU or DAC), commonly designated as DAC9.

The agreed revised version of the Directive reflects the GIR released by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) on 15 January 2025,¹ and includes other amendments to the original legislative proposal and Annex (draft proposal)² presented by the European Commission (the Commission) on 28 October 2024. These amendments include removing the provisions that would give the Commission the authority to adopt delegated acts to amend the TTIR standard form in response to future updates that the OECD Inclusive Framework makes to the GIR standard template. As a result, changing the TTIR to align with GIR in case of future changes will require legislative action.

In addition, unrelated to the introduction of the TTIR, the agreed text also amends reporting requirements for financial institutions under DAC.

The European Union is expected to formally adopt DAC9 in the coming weeks. Following this, the EU Member States should transpose the rules by 31 December 2025. TTIR information should be exchanged by 31 December 2026, and in any case no earlier than 1 December 2026.

Detailed discussion

Background

On 15 December 2022, the EU Member States unanimously adopted the Directive aimed at ensuring a global minimum level of taxation for multinational enterprise (MNE) groups and large-scale domestic groups in the European Union (the Minimum Tax Directive).³

Article 44 of the Minimum Tax Directive sets out the requirements on filing for in-scope entities, referring to a TTIR, which must be filed using a standard template and include certain specified data points. Under Article 44, there are two options for filing:

1. Baseline scenario: Each constituent entity must file its TTIR in the Member State where it is located.
2. Derogation: Entities can deviate from the baseline scenario to the extent that (i) the Ultimate Parent Entity (or a designated filing entity) files the TTIR on behalf of the entire MNE, and (ii) arrangements to exchange information between the jurisdictions involved are in place.

On 17 July 2023, the OECD released a standardized template for the GIR that includes the information considered necessary for tax authorities to perform a risk assessment and to evaluate the correctness of a Constituent Entity's Top-up Tax liability under the GloBE Rules.⁴

From 10 July to 19 August 2024, the OECD held a public consultation⁵ on a schema in extensible mark-up language (GIR XML Schema), a corresponding user guide to facilitate domestic GIR filings and the technical format for exchanging GIR information between tax administrations.

On 15 January 2025, the OECD released additional publications related to the GIR, namely, a user guide for the GIR XML schema, a GIR updated version and a Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Exchange of GloBE Information (GIR MCAA).⁶

On 28 October 2024, the Commission published a draft proposal to amend the DAC and accompanying Annex transposing the OECD GIR into EU law, ensuring that the standardized template and associated requirements are aligned with the OECD's guidelines and are implemented consistently across EU Member States.

Revised Directive on Administrative Cooperation (DAC9)

On 11 March 2025, the Member States reached a political agreement on the DAC9 Presidency compromise text during the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meeting. The agreed text includes key changes compared to the draft proposal, which are outlined in detail below.

DAC9 establishes a central filing framework to facilitate the exchange of information with respect to the TTIR between Member States, enabling MNEs to switch from local to central filing. Following the draft Directive, the agreed text also provides a dissemination approach whereby the Member State receiving the TTIR communicates the relevant specific parts to the relevant Member States based on their role in the MNE group.

DAC9 only facilitates the exchange of information within the EU. Although it is not specifically addressed in the agreed text, Member States will need to sign appropriate international agreements for the exchange of information with third country jurisdictions. It is expected that the GIR MCAA can be used for this purpose.

The OECD publications released in January 2025 related to the GIR are not specifically addressed in the agreed text, except for the references to the OECD Inclusive Framework Multilateral competent authority agreement (MCAA) in the preamble (see below). Nevertheless, the changes introduced to the TTIR are in line with the 2025 updated version of the GIR, except for particularities of the EU context.

Key changes to the draft proposal

• Alignment of the TTIR with the latest 2025 version of the GIR: The agreed text aligns the data points of the TTIR with the updated GIR released by the Inclusive Framework in January 2025. Some data points were added in different subsections of Section IV (Data Points) of the agreed text to promote this alignment; for example, new data points related to "jurisdiction with taxing rights" and the "existence of reportable differences" related to the characteristics of the jurisdiction in section 2.1 of the "Jurisdictional Safe Harbours and Exclusions," among others.
• Alignment of the TTIR with future amendments to the GIR: The Commission proposed in the draft Directive to receive delegated authority to update the TTIR under DAC9 if the Inclusive Framework wanted to make future amendments to the GIR. Member States have not agreed with this proposal and, therefore, this authority has been removed from the agreed text. This means that future changes to the TTIR will require legislative amendment. Following the Council Statement, the Commission should, in an expeditive manner, table any legislative proposals that would amend the TTIR following any changes to the GIR; further, the Council commits to acting as swiftly as possible to ensure that the standard templates remain continuously in line with the GIR. A subsequent Commission Statement confirms the Council's suggestions.
• Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement: According to the preamble of the agreed text, Member States should use the OECD Inclusive Framework MCAA on the Exchange of GloBE information and its commentary, the OECD Model Rules and Commentary, as well as the GloBE Implementation Framework, and any updates thereof, as a source of illustration or interpretation. This will ensure consistent application across Member States to the extent these are compatible with DAC9, the Minimum Tax Directive and EU law. Furthermore, the preamble also indicates that MNEs filing the TTIR should use the instructions released by the OECD for filing the GIR as a source of illustration and interpretation, to help ensure consistent application within the EU, subject to compatibility mentioned above.
• Joint ventures: To facilitate consistency and transparency in reporting, the agreed text mandates that in the rare case that a large-scale domestic group (LsDGs) has a parent entity that (1) holds a direct or indirect ownership interest in a joint venture or joint venture affiliate and (2) is subject to a qualified domestic top-up tax (QDTT) in another Member State, then the Member State where the LsDG is located must use the standard template to file the TTIR as it applied to MNEs.
• Election for a delayed application of the IIR and UTPR: It is clarified that for Member States that have elected not to apply the Income Inclusion Rule (IIR) and the Under-taxed Profits Rule (UTPR) pursuant to Article 50(1) of the Minimum Tax Directive, but have opted to implement a QDTT, the first Reporting fiscal year for which the information shall be reported will be the first fiscal year in which the QDTT applies.

In addition to implementing the GIR into EU law, DAC9 also introduces additional reporting requirements for reporting financial institutions. Specifically, Article 8(3a) of DAC is amended to expand reporting obligations by including four new data points: (1) self-certification status of Account Holders, (2) self-certification status of Reportable Persons, (3) account type classification (pre-existing, new or joint), and (4) the role of Reportable Persons holding equity interests in Investment Entities. These new reporting obligations will apply from 1 January 2026, providing a transitional period for compliance. These reporting requirements are not relevant to the Minimum Tax Directive and the resulting reporting obligations.

Next steps

After legal-linguistic review, the Council is expected to adopt DAC9 in the near future.

Following the formal adoption of DAC9 by the Council, Member States must transpose DAC9 by 31 December 2025, with its measures applying from 1 January 2026.

However, Member States deferring the IIR and UTPR under Article 50 of the Minimum Tax Directive must transpose DAC9 before their election ends, with application starting the day after, except for the amendments to Article 8(3a) of DAC. These amendments introduce additional reporting obligations for reporting financial institutions and must still be transposed by 31 December 2025.

If a Member State that has opted for the deferral of IIR and UTPR has also opted to apply a QDTT, transposition must occur before the first Reporting fiscal year begins, with rules applying from that year's start. If the QDTT election starts before or on DAC9's entry into force, however, transposition remains due by 31 December 2025, with application from 1 January 2026.

Lastly, provisions on information retention and Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TINs) must be transposed by 31 December 2027, taking effect from 1 January 2028.

Implications

The transposition of DAC9 by Member States in the coming period, as well as future changes to the agreed text to align the TTIR with future changes of the GIR, should be closely monitored.

Businesses are required to gather, process and submit extensive information through the information return to comply with minimum tax rules. Businesses should continue to assess the necessary modifications to their accounting and IT systems to accurately identify and generate all required data points for complying with these rules.

Finally, financial institutions and relevant asset owners should also take into account the changes made to their reporting obligations under DAC.