EU DAC 9 Directive: Key Changes for MNEs under Pillar 2 Global Minimum Tax

Following the adoption by the European Council on April 14, 2025, the Council Directive (EU) 2025/872 of 14 April 2025 amending Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation, also known as the DAC 9 Directive, was published in the Official Journal of the EU on May 6.

The DAC 9 aims to simplify the reporting for the large groups required under the OECD's Pillar 2, commonly called the global minimum tax set at a 15% rate.

Impact of DAC 9 on Taxable Persons

The DAC 9 rules provide an exemption for multinational enterprise groups (MNEs), which, under the Pillar 2 rules, must submit a GloBE Information Return (GIR) to their Tax Authority. Therefore, the local entity is exempt from filing if the GIR is submitted by the ultimate parent or a designated entity in a jurisdiction with a qualifying agreement with the EU country where the MNE is based. This is known as the central filing approach.

As part of the steps to support this system, DAC 9 aims to establish the necessary agreements between EU countries, thus enabling central filing. Additionally, it sets the mechanism for data exchange so that the national Tax Authorities can share relevant information about the GIR and any other necessary data.

Furthermore, under DAC 9, EU countries must ensure that entities fulfilling filing obligations use a standardized template, the top-up tax information return (TTIR), for reporting under the global minimum tax framework.

The Directive came into effect on May 7, 2025, and underlines that EU countries have until December 31, 2025, to adopt and publish necessary laws, regulations, and other legal provisions to implement DAC 9 into national legislation and comply with rules. The deadline for transposing DAC 9 into national law also applies to countries that opted to delay the implementation of the Directive, such as Malta.

First GIR is due by June 30, 2026, and EU countries will have six months to communicate relevant information. However, the six months are defined only for the first fiscal year of reporting. The general rule applicable for the following reporting period will be three months.

Conclusion

MNEs with a combined annual group turnover of at least EUR 750 million that fall under the scope of the Pillar 2 Directive, which implemented the OECD global agreement on international tax reform into the EU regulatory framework, now have a simpler way to reach compliance under DAC 9.

Therefore, MNEs should carefully examine the defined rules and regulations and prepare their system to report required data in the necessary format to the Tax Authorities.

Source: Council Directive (EU) 2025/872 of 14 April 2025 amending Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation (DAC 9 Directive), European Council, VATabout - EU DAC 9