GloBE: Agreement on the DAC9 Directive

The Council of the European Union – in a press release dated March 11, 2025 – announced that a political agreement had been reached on the amendment of the directive on administrative cooperation (under the so-called amending directive, referred to as DAC9). The amendment aims to streamline cooperation between national administrations regarding the exchange of GloBE information.

Facilitating GloBE reporting obligations

The press release states that the changes will significantly simplify the reporting obligations arising from the Council Directive (EU) 2022/2523 of 14 December 2022 on ensuring a global minimum level of taxation for multinational enterprise groups and large-scale domestic groups in the Union – obligations that apply to both multinational and domestic groups. Following the amendments, companies subject to GloBE will be in the position to complete only one form, in which they will include all the required information on corrective taxation.

The changes will allow for the recognition that the GloBE Information Return (GIR) is submitted in a given EU member state (for example, in the state of the Ultimate Parent Entity – UPE). This will eliminate the need to submit this information in states where subsidiaries of the international group, other than the one submitting the GIR, are located. The “single window” principle will apply here – this solution will, therefore, result in reduced administrative burdens related to the implementation of GloBE (especially for subsidiaries that are not the UPE and have not been additionally designated as designated filing entities to submit the GIR).

Implications of the directive for EU Member States

The amendment to the directive on administrative cooperation (under the amendment known as DAC9) will also be particularly significant for individual EU Member States – as it will eliminate the need for bilateral agreements between EU Member States regarding the exchange of corrective taxation information.

This is particularly important in the context of Article 133(4) of the Act of 6 November 2024 on top-up taxation of constituent entities of multinational and domestic groups. According to this provision, the obligation to submit GloBE information return will not arise for a Polish subsidiary within a GloBE group if the appropriate (substantively equivalent) GloBE Information Return has been submitted to the competent tax authority of a jurisdiction with which Poland has entered into a qualified agreement for the exchange of top-up taxation information, applicable for the tax year. It is crucial that the relevant information is submitted by the UPE of the multinational group located outside Poland or a subsidiary outside Poland designated for this purpose by the UPE (but not acting as the UPE).

For non-EU countries, Poland will still need to conclude a qualified agreement for the exchange of top-up taxation information with the relevant jurisdiction, applicable for the tax year. According to Article 133(5) of the GloBE Act, a qualified agreement is a bilateral or multilateral agreement or arrangement concluded by the Polish competent tax authority with the competent tax authority of another jurisdiction or the relevant tax authorities of other jurisdictions, providing for automatic exchange of top-up taxation information.

When should DAC9 be implemented?

Member states will be obliged to implement DAC9 until December 31, 2025.

Deregulatory trend in the tax area

The above-mentioned agreement aligns with the trend presented by the EU in the tax area. In another press release from the same day, the EU Council confirmed its agreement on carrying out reforms aimed at maintaining the competitiveness of the EU economy. The Council proposed changes regarding the rules for enacting new taxes. These rules will be based on four key principles:

• reducing reporting, administrative, and compliance burdens;
• repealing outdated tax provisions that no longer align with current economic realities;
• increasing transparency in the process of enacting new tax provisions;
• streamlining and improving the implementation of new tax provisions, including with regard to imposing new reporting obligations.