The final UK regulations for the implementation of the EU Directive on Administrative Cooperation in the field of taxation (“DAC6”) have been published alongside HMRC’s response to the consultation in July 2019.

The regulations are due to come into force on 1 July 2020 and aim to ensure that HMRC are provided with early information about cross-border arrangements which contain certain features, or ‘hallmarks’, viewed as representing potentially aggressive tax planning. HMRC’s DAC 6 guidance has not yet been published.

HMRC has also amended its manual guidance on DAC6 to clarify how ‘reasonable excuse’ will apply in relation to the coronavirus pandemic.

The European Commission has recently proposed a Directive amending DAC6 which, if adopted, would delay these DAC6 reporting and information exchange deadlines. Under the proposed Directive, while the DAC6 regime would still come into force in each member state (including the UK) on 1 July 2020, the reporting and information exchange deadlines would be delayed broadly by three months.