Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

As part of the Government’s ongoing efforts to strengthen and deepen our relationship with Germany, we are formally starting negotiations on a new Double Taxation Agreement between our two countries.

Our current Double Taxation Agreement, which was signed in 1972, needs updating to reflect the changing natures of both our economies since that time.

Discussions will focus on how we can maximise efficiency in our trade and investment relationship by ensuring double taxation is minimised while also seeking to tighten the rules to address base erosion and profit shifting to ensure multinationals pay their fair share of tax consistent with current OECD and G20 objectives.

The re-negotiation of the Double Taxation Agreement between Australia and Germany was identified as a priority by Prime Minister Tony Abbott and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during their bilateral meeting in Sydney after the G20 Summit.

Since then the Australia-Germany Advisory Group co-chaired by Senator Cormann has been working on a wide range of measures to strengthen and deepen the relationship between Australia and Germany.

Germany is the fourth largest economy in the world and our tenth largest trading partner with $16 billion worth of trade between Australia and Germany. As such, it is vital that we have a modern tax treaty that supports this important relationship and helps facilitate stronger trade and investment flows between our countries in the future.

Written submissions are welcome to help inform negotiations. Submissions are due by 24 June 2015. More information is available at www.treasury.gov.au.

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