25/02/2020 – Today, the OECD released IT-formats and guidance to support the technical implementation of the OECD Treaty Relief and Compliance Enhancement (TRACE) initiative, as well as to facilitate the wider use of the OECD Common Transmission System (CTS) for the exchange of information between tax administrations.

 

TRACE is a standardised system that allows the claiming of withholding tax relief at source on portfolio investments and removes the administrative barriers that affect the ability of portfolio investors to effectively claim the reduced rates of withholding tax. In light of the ongoing implementation of TRACE by Finland and the interest of other jurisdictions to follow suit, the OECD is now releasing the standardised IT-format to support the reporting of information under the TRACE AI system, the TRACE XML Schema and User Guide.

 

Also today, the OECD released a dedicated XML Schema and User Guide, developed to allow tax administrations to provide structured feedback to the sender on errors encountered with respect to tax information exchanged through the CTS. The CTS was launched in 2017 and currently supports the automatic exchange of Common Reporting Standard information, Country-by-Country Reports and Tax Rulings by over 100 jurisdictions. As of autumn 2020, the CTS will also support a wide range of other exchanges, including on-request and spontaneous exchanges, as well as the transmission of information pertaining to Mutual Agreement Procedure, TRACE and other forms of co-operation. The Generic Status Message XML Schema will allow tax administrations to provide feedback on the technical quality of the information exchanged, independent of the underlying exchange of information policy.

 

Queries should be directed to Achim Pross, Head of the International Co-operation and Tax Administration Division (+33 1 45 24 93 51) or the CTP Communications team.