McBEPS: The MLI – The First Multilateral Tax Treaty that Has Never Been

Abstract

The article argues that the multilateral instrument (MLI) was primarily devised to preserve the conservative evolution of the international tax regime, based on bilateral tax treaties, reciprocity and competition, and not as a multilateral tax treaty based on which a new coordinative regime shall arise. The article makes the point, however, that despite this main purpose the mere conclusion of the MLI introduces ambivalence into the international tax regime, breaking with its orthodoxy in a meaningful, even if not yet significant manner. The article makes fifteen observations on the MLI in its current status to substantiate this argument.