Mutual Agreement Procedures

A taxpayer may consider that the actions of one or both of the jurisdictions result or will result for him in taxation not in accordance with the provisions of the treaty. Irrespective of the remedies provided by the domestic law of the jurisdictions involved, he can present his case to a designated Competent Authority of one or both of the jurisdictions.

The Competent Authority receiving such a request shall endeavor, if the objection appears to it to be justified and if it is not itself able to arrive at a satisfactory solution, to resolve the case by a mutual agreement with the Competent Authority of the other jurisdiction, with a view to the avoidance of taxation which is not in accordance with the Convention.

A MAP case is possible under the provisions of a MAP article in terms of:

• A double taxation agreement;
• The Convention of 23 July 1990 on the elimination of double taxation in connection with the adjustment of profits of associated enterprises (90/463/EEC) - The EU Arbitration Convention;
  
• The European Union Dispute Resolution Mechanism (Directive 2017/1852 of 10 October 2017) ("DRM") which was transposed to Maltese law through the European Union Dispute Resolution Mechanism Directive Implementation Regulations (S.L. 123.191).

A MAP case is possible for bilateral and multilateral disputes and may deal with requests for the multi year resolution of recurring issues. The Mutual Agreement Procedure Guidelines provide more details on how such MAP can be processed in terms of a double taxation agreement and the Guidance note on The Dispute Resolution Mechanism Regulations provides more details on how a Complaint can be processed in terms of a Complaint submitted in terms of the European Dispute Resolution Mechanism.