What is the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement

 

1. The Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (“the MCAA”) is a multilateral framework agreement that provides a standardised and efficient mechanism to facilitate the automatic exchange of information in accordance with the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Information in Tax Matters (“the Standard”). It avoids the need for several bilateral agreements to be concluded. The text and signatories of the MCAA can be found here.
   
   
2. Its design as a framework agreement means the MCAA always ensures each signatory has ultimate control over exactly which exchange relationships it enters into and that each signatory’s standards on confidentiality and data protection always apply.
   
   
3. The legal basis for the MCAA (which is agreed at competent authority level) rests in Article 6 of the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (“the Convention”) which provides for the automatic exchange of information between Parties to the Convention, where two Parties subsequently agree to do so.