EU Public Country-by-Country Reporting Tracker

What is country-by-country reporting?

Introduced by the OECD as one of the organisation’s BEPS Actions, country-by-country reporting (CbCR) information has for the majority of businesses been privately submitted to tax authorities and used as a high-level transfer pricing risk assessment tool. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) built on this, and in 2019 introduced a requirement to publicly disclose CbCR information as part of its 207 Tax Standard, which companies can elect to report under voluntarily. The objective of the EU Directive is to further this tax transparency initiative through mandated disclosure of CbCR for MNEs with operations in the EU.
 

What is EU pCbCR and what are the implications for businesses?

EU pCbCR is a tax transparency initiative which aims to give stakeholders a clearer view of MNEs’ EU tax contributions and economic activities and is designed to foster corporate responsibility in the EU. It requires large MNEs to publicly disclose key financial data for each tax jurisdiction in which they operate, enhancing the public’s ability to scrutinise corporate tax metrics. 

Similar proposals have also recently been introduced into Australian Parliament. The rules, which are intended to take effect for reporting periods commencing on or after 1 July 2024, will require public disclosure of certain tax information by large groups with a presence in Australia. While the details may differ from the EU the underlying principles and goals are the same.

Companies in scope — who is affected?

A reporting obligation arises for multinational groups with a consolidated net turnover of at least EUR750 million in each of the last two consecutive financial years if the group’s ultimate parent is either:

• headquartered in the EU, or

• headquartered in a third country and operates in the EU through a qualifying subsidiary or branch¹.

For EU-headquartered groups the disclosure obligation lies with the EU parent which is responsible for filing the report with a publicly accessible commercial registry and publishing it on its website (unless the website publication exemption applies, please refer to optional clauses below). 

For non-EU headquartered groups, the Directive provides a reporting exemption for EU subsidiaries and branches where the ultimate parent has published a report on its website and assigned one of the EU-based subsidiaries or branches to file the report with their national commercial registry. Not all countries have included this exemption (please refer to the below tracker for country-level specifics).

Financial institutions established in the EU within the scope of pCbCR and which already report country-by-country information under Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) IV are exempt.

_{1. A qualifying subsidiary must meet two of the following three requirements: 1) have an average number of employees exceeding 50, 2) have a balance sheet greater than EUR 5 million, or 3) have net revenue greater than EUR 10 million. A branch simply needs to meet the revenue threshold. These thresholds may be different in some member states according to the local legislation, please refer to the tracker for additional information.}

• First year of reporting and publication date
• Information required to be disclosed
• Optional clauses and penalties

Using the tracker

Our tracker offers a comprehensive overview of the Regulation across the 27 individual EU member states, including where the local reporting and filing requirements as well as available exemptions and deferrals, often diverge from the EU Directive. The tracker is designed to help tax teams navigate through this complexity in order to make informed decisions and deliver the best outcomes for their business and stakeholders.